GREEN LAKE, Wisc. – Authorities in Wisconsin are investigating the case of a kayaker who was thought to be missing for several months, believing he may actually be alive and orchestrated his own disappearance before escaping abroad.

Ryan Borgwardt, a married man with three children, was reported missing on August 12 while kayaking on Green Lake, located about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee. On the day he went missing, local authorities found his overturned kayak along with a life jacket.

For around 54 days, extensive efforts to locate Borgwardt’s body included the use of underwater drones, sonar devices, divers, and K-9 teams, but according to Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll, “there was nothing we could find.” He disclosed this during a press conference on Friday.

In a surprising update, Podoll shared that further investigation suggested that Borgwardt might have staged his disappearance and left for Europe. After regrouping with his team on October 7, they decided to change their investigative approach and discovered that Borgwardt’s name had been accessed on August 13.

“This was unexpected,” Podoll stated, noting that authorities uncovered evidence suggesting Borgwardt had taken out a life insurance policy and had been in contact with a woman from Uzbekistan.

Ryan Borgwardt was reported missing while kayaking

Borgwardt’s wife had informed the authorities that she received a text from him on the night of August 11, saying he was heading to shore, and his last known location was Green Lake.

Authorities found Borgwardt’s vehicle and trailer parked at Dodge County Memorial Park, which is on the lake’s southwest side, according to Podoll. They quickly deployed a boat that led them to a capsized kayak in a section of the lake where the water reaches approximately 220 feet deep.

Search efforts by Bruce’s Legacy, a nonprofit rescue group, along with numerous law enforcement agencies, were extensive, uncovering a fishing rod confirmed by Borgwardt’s wife to belong to him, as well as a tackle box containing his wallet, keys, and ID.

On October 4, Keith Cormican, the founder of Bruce’s Legacy, expressed to Podoll that despite his thorough search of the western part of Green Lake, he had not yet located Borgwardt’s body. However, Podoll mentioned that Cormican was not ready to abandon the case.

“So on October 7, I called my team together,” Podoll recounted. “We met and agreed that we needed to change our approach. We discovered that Borgwardt’s name had been checked on August 13.”

‘We have reason to believe Ryan is alive, likely in Eastern Europe’

The new investigation indicated that Borgwardt’s name was flagged by Canadian law enforcement on August 13, and it revealed that he possessed a second passport after claiming the first one was lost.

With cooperation from Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigations, Podoll reported that investigators conducted a digital forensic examination of Borgwardt’s laptop.

<p“We determined that he had replaced the hard drive of his laptop,” Podoll explained. “He deleted his browsing history on the day he went missing. Additionally, he synced his laptop to the cloud on August 11 and took photographs of his passport.”

Authorities also discovered that on the day of his disappearance, Borgwardt was looking into transferring money to overseas banks and changed the email addresses associated with his financial accounts. Furthermore, he was in contact with a woman from Uzbekistan.

In January, Borgwardt took out a life insurance policy worth $375,000 and purchased a gift card for airline travel.

“Given the emergence of this new evidence, we are certain that Ryan is not in Green Lake, and we have ceased all related search efforts there,” Podoll stated. “Currently, we believe Ryan is alive and probably in Eastern Europe.”

“We still have several steps to follow in our investigation to piece together this situation,” Podoll added, mentioning that authorities are considering potential charges against Borgwardt.

The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office is requesting that anyone with information about Borgwardt come forward. Podoll also made a personal appeal to Borgwardt.

“Ryan, if you see this, I urge you to reach out to us or get in touch with your family. We understand that circumstances can arise, but there’s a family eagerly waiting for their dad to return,” Podoll said.