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The missing Green Lake kayaker likely staged his own death and fled to Europe

It was initially believed to be a missing kayaker on August 12, when Borgwardt did not return from kayaking on Green Lake.

GREEN LAKE — A kayaker who has been reported missing for three months may still be alive — just not in the country.

In a shocking turn of events, the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office announced Nov. 8 that it believes 44-year-old Ryan Borgwardt staged his disappearance and likely fled to Europe.

Sheriff Mark Podoll broke the news during a press conference after an investigation revealed that Borgwardt had a second passport, replaced his laptop's hard drive, inquired about transferring funds to foreign banks and had a life insurance policy worth $375,000 earlier this year -dollars had completed.

“Based on the discovery of this new evidence, we are confident that Ryan is not in Green Lake and we have suspended all search efforts related to Green Lake,” Podoll said.

“At this point we believe Ryan is alive and likely in Eastern Europe.”

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The news marks a stunning development in a story that initially centered around a missing kayaker on Aug. 12, when Borgwardt failed to return from kayaking on Green Lake.

Sheriff's officials discovered his kayak with a life jacket overturned the same day before Borgwardt's wife told authorities she received a text message from him at 10:49 p.m. on Aug. 11 saying he am on the way to the shore.

An extensive search using underwater drones, towable diving sonar, divers and three K-9 cadaver teams revealed that Borgwardt's body had not been found after 54 days.

However, a new investigation that began on October 7 revealed that Borgwardt's name had been checked by Canadian law enforcement on August 13 and that he had a second passport after reporting the loss of his original passport.

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According to Podoll, Borgwardt's family was able to easily find this first pass.

With the help of Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security, the FBI and the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation, authorities were able to uncover:

  • Replacing his laptop's hard drive.
  • Deleting the browsers on the day of his disappearance.
  • Sync laptop with iCloud on August 11th.
  • Photos of passports.
  • Requests to transfer funds to foreign banks.
  • Changed email addresses linked to financial accounts on the day of his disappearance.
  • Communication with a woman from Uzbekistan.
  • A new life insurance policy was purchased in January for $375,000.
  • A purchased airline gift card.

“Our investigation needs to take many more steps to piece together this mystery,” Podoll said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office at 920-294-4134, ext. 1162.

Contact Justin Marville at [email protected].

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