BY JUAN HERNANDEZ
Ryan Borgwardt was reported missing on August 12 in Green Lake, Wisconsin. His wife was the last person to hear from him. The evening before, he texted her to say he was kayaking to shore.
When the 45-year-old father of three failed to return home by morning, she let local authorities know. A week later, police reported they had found his kayak capsized in the lake and a tackle box containing his wallet, keys, and driver’s license. They spent the next 54 days searching the lake with the help of the non-profit search organization, Bruce’s Legacy, without finding Borgwardt.
“Keith Cormican, [who leads] Bruce’s Legacy, sifted through hours and hours of sonar data and images,” Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said. “Keith’s expertise and equipment led us to believe either something very odd occurred and Ryan was outside the area that had been searched, or something else had occurred.”
Nearly three months since Borgwardt’s disappearance, the Green Lake sheriff’s department still hasn’t found a body after searching every corner of the lake. Instead, they believe Borgwardt staged the entire thing and fled the country.
Shocking news
Sheriff Podoll held a press conference last week to lay out the investigation’s findings, including the shocking news that Borgwardt may have faked the entire thing. A turning point in the investigation came in early October when they learned that Canadian border authorities had actually checked Borgwardt’s name the day after he’d gone missing. More evidence started to pile up after that major discovery.
For example, he erased everything on his laptop’s hard drive just after syncing all of the contents to the cloud on August 11. He’d also taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy months before the disappearance and transferred funds into a foreign bank. Authorities also say they’ve traced communication between Borgwardt and a woman in Uzbekistan.
What was a major search-and-rescue operation for a missing kayaker has turned into a criminal investigation with several departments, including the FBI. A press release from the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Department didn’t lay out specific charges that could be applied, but they are looking into any people who could have knowingly helped the father of three plan his disappearance.
“At this time, we believe that Ryan is alive and likely in Eastern Europe,” Sheriff Podell said.
This article originally appeared on The Inertia.
