Ryan Borgwardt Green Lake, Wisconsin hiker who faked his own death to ‘forever’ live with mistress he met online overseas in Georgia sentenced to 89 days in no contest plea. But what happened to his wife and mystery woman?
A Wisconsin man who faked his own kayaking drowning death in a bid to leave his wife and three kids to be with a woman he’d met online living abroad has been sentenced to 3 months jail.
Ryan Borgwardt, 45, of Watertown, appearing in court on Tuesday was convicted of obstructing an officer and sentenced to 89 days jail, the amount of time he successfully misled law enforcement about his whereabouts.
The sentencing given to Borgwardt was nearly twice as long as what was recommended under a plea deal reached with prosecutors, FOX6News reported.
Wisconsin husband and dad concocts elaborate scheme to start new life
Borgwardt, 45, initially pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor that stemmed from his elaborate escape from the country to Georgia, last August. But under the plea deal unveiled Tuesday, the Green Lake kayaker changed his plea to no contest and agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to law enforcement to cover what was spent trying to locate him. A no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.
‘I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family, friends,’ Borgwardt said in court before being sentenced.
‘He obstructed law enforcement for a total of 89 days,’ presiding Judge Mark Slate said.
The longer sentence can serve as a deterrent to anyone else who may be considering faking their death and misleading law enforcement, the judge said.
Borgwardt was reported missing August 12, 2024, after telling his wife the night before that he was kayaking on Green Lake, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee.
Wisconsin plan to start new life abroad falls apart
His disappearance was first investigated as a possible drowning. But after investigators failed to find his body following a 58-day search, the search broadened. Subsequent clues, including that he obtained a new passport three months before he disappeared, led investigators to speculate Borgwardt had faked his death to meet up with a woman from Uzbekistan he had been communicating with.
Investigators made contact with Borgwardt in November and persuaded him to return to the US in December. He turned himself in and was charged with obstructing the search for his body. His wife of 22 years divorced him four months later.
According to the criminal complaint, Borgwardt traveled 50 miles (80 kilometers) from his family’s home in Watertown to Green Lake on August 11, 2024. During the night, he overturned his kayak on the lake, paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft that he brought with him – dumping his identification in the lake along the way – and rode an electric bicycle 70 miles (112 kilometers) to Madison. From there, he caught a bus to Toronto, flew to Paris and then to ‘a country in Asia,’ before he landed in the European country of Georgia.
He told investigators a woman picked him up and they spent several days in a hotel before he took up residency in Georgia, according to the complaint.
Prior to flying abroad to be with the mystery woman, Borgwardt took out a $375,000 life insurance policy, applied for a replacement passport and reversed his vasectomy before faking his death.
Investigators learned he said he wanted to protect his family in case something happened to him.
Before his disappearance, Borgwardt had changed all the email addresses linked to his bank accounts and moved money to a foreign bank account.
A text file on Borgwardt’s computer named ‘promise’ dates back to at least early April 2024. It shows messages between Borgwardt and another woman planning a life together. Investigators were able to find the missing husband and father after emailing the ‘mystery’ woman and notifying her.
Borgwardt’s attorney, Erik Johnson, said Borgwardt ‘deeply regrets’ his actions, and that he returned to the country ‘to make amends’ (or because he got played and dumped?). He noted Borgwardt paid the $30,000 in restitution last week.
The whereabouts of the mystery Georgian woman remains unclear.
