Ryan Borgwardt, a Wisconsin husband and father accused of faking his own death in a kayaking accident so he could start a new life, has been sentenced to jailtime for his elaborate escape scheme.
Borgwardt was ordered to spend 89 days behind bars — the same amount of time he led the authorities to believe he was dead — on Tuesday, shortly after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction. He was also required to pay $30,000 in costs associated with the search for his body in Green Lake, the spot he was last seen before he disappeared.
“I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family, friends,” Borgwardt said in court
Green Lake County district attorney Gerise LaSpisa said Borgwardt had faked his death “so that he could disappear from his everyday life of being a husband and father in Wisconsin” and travel overseas to meet a woman he had connected with online a few months prior. He was reported missing on Aug. 12, 2024 after he failed to return from a kayaking trip on Green Lake, about 75 miles northwest of Milwaukee.
His wife said she last heard from him the day before, when he texted her that he was on his way back to shore. But he did not return, prompting a massive search effort spanning multiple agencies, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bruce’s Legacy, and Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office boats. They used side-scan sonar and underwater drones, leading them to his overturned boat.
Borgwardt, who was presumed dead, however, did not actually drown in the lake — in reality, he used a small inflatable boat to make his way back to shore, according to a criminal complaint. From there, he said he rode an electric bike about 70 miles to Madison, and then he took a bus to Detroit before boarding a bus to Canada, where got on a plane.
He eventually made his way to the country of Georgia, where he “began to create a life with the woman he met on the internet, getting a job and an apartment,” Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa said. “His entire plan to fake his death, to devastate his family in order to serve his own selfish desires, hinged on him dying in the lake and selling his death to the world.”
Investigators ultimately uncovered Borwardt’s scheme back in October of last year, when they learned his name was searched by Canadian customs on Aug. 13, the day after he supposedly drowned. They also learned Borgwardt had been communicating with a woman from Uzbekistan, authorities said.
With News Wire Services
