Missing Green Lake kayaker suspected of faking death: Sheriff

GREEN LAKE, Wis. – The Green Lake County Sheriff's Office announced Friday that it believes a kayaker initially thought to be missing this summer may have actually faked his own death.

Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was reported missing on August 12th. According to the sheriff's office via WLUK-TV, an early search in and around Green Lake found Borgwardt's kayak, life jacket and fishing pole; His vehicle was at the boat dock. The search lasted more than a month.

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Now investigators have learned that on the day of his disappearance, Borgwardt obtained a second passport, deleted his hard drives and browser history, and changed his bank details. He also took out $375,000 in life insurance and purchased an airline gift card.

“Based on these new evidence discoveries, we were confident that Ryan was not in our lake,” said Sheriff Mark Podoll.

Borgwardt is said to have had contact with a woman from Uzbekistan, a country with around 36 million inhabitants in Central Asia.

The sheriff's office asked Borgwardt to come home to his family. He will likely have to pay compensation for the hundreds of hours crews spent searching for him.