Ryan Borgwardt, the Watertown man who authorities believed faked his own death, has been communicating with investigators “almost daily” from Eastern Europe since Nov. 11, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said on Nov. 21.
Investigators initially presumed Borgwardt dead after they discovered his overturned kayak in the heart of Green Lake. After 54 days of searching, investigators discovered Borgwardt had taken out a life insurance policy, made inquiries about moving funds to foreign bank accounts and obtained a new passport.
Investigators hosted a press conference Nov. 8 in which they detailed the newly discovered evidence, along with their hypothesis that Borgwardt was still alive and in Eastern Europe.
In the days following the press conference, Podoll said his team did a “blitz” of the phone numbers and emails they obtained from Borgwardt’s computer. After making contact with a “female who spoke Russian,” Podoll said the woman put Borgwardt in contact with authorities.
“I’m safe and secure, no problem,” Borgwardt said in a video from an unknown location dated Nov. 11, shown at a Thursday press conference.
Borgwardt told authorities that after dumping his phone and kayak in Green Lake, he rode a “child-sized inflatable boat” back to shore before riding an e-bike nearly 70 miles to Madison, where he boarded a Greyhound bus to Detroit.
From there, investigators said he rode a bus to Canada and then flew out of the country.
Borgwardt revealed that he fled the country for “personal matters” and “thought this was the right thing to do,” taking out a new $375,000 life insurance plan “for his family.”
Borgwardt told investigators he chose Green Lake as the place to stage his death due to its status as the deepest natural lake in Wisconsin. Podoll said it “wasn’t in [Borgwardt’s] plan” to fake his own death but declined to comment on why he decided to, only saying Borgwardt didn’t leave the country out of fears for his personal safety.
According to Podoll, he appeared to “express remorse” for “what he's put his family through the past several months,” along with the amount of man hours and money put into finding him.
Borgwardt also said he didn’t anticipate investigators would search for him for “more than two weeks” in their initial investigation into his supposed death.
Borgwardt has not made contact with his family in the 10 days since authorities first contacted him, according to officials.
John Gross, Clinical Associate Professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told WMTV 15 News that while faking death is not a crime on its own, Borgwardt could be charged with an attempted fraudulent insurance claim, a Class I felony in Wisconsin.
Other charges for Borgwardt are still up in the air, with Podoll saying the possibility of a local “obstructing charge,” federal charges and $35,000 to $40,000 in restitution payments await Borgwardt if he returns home.
But Podoll told reporters that Borgwardt’s biggest concern about returning was how the community would react.
Investigators said they were still working to bring Borgwardt back home.
“Christmas is coming, and what better gift could he give his kids than to be there for Christmas with them,” Podoll said.
