Father who 'faked his own death' explains how he did it after coming out of hiding
The father-of-three who 'faked his own death' explained how he did it after coming out of hiding recently.
Ryan Borgwardt was last spotted on August 12 when he went to Green Lake, Wisconsin, for a solo kayaking trip.
Later on, his lifejacket and kayak were discovered, leading authorities to believe that he'd experienced some issues while kayaking and subsequently drowned.
Advert
A search was then launched to find the 45-year-old, which lasted for more than 50 days, however, Borgwardt was nowhere to be seen.
However, once it was found out by police that Borgwardt had taken out a huge life insurance policy not long before his 'death', the plot began to thicken.
Chief Deputy Sheriff for Green Lake County, Matthew Vande Kolk told the BBC: "We believe that he is alive. We know that he's not in our lake."
And on November 12, those suspicions were confirmed when they got in touch with him through a Russian speaking lady - with Borgwardt later filming a video to confirm his safety.
He hasn't specified his location to police, however, it is believed that he is somewhere in Eastern Europe.
"We do not know where Ryan exactly is," the sheriff said. "He has not yet decided to return home. We've had nearly daily communications with Ryan."
So just how did he do it?
As per ABC News, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said in a press conference on Thursday (November 21) that Borgwardt had explained to authorities how he'd pulled it off.
He said: "He stashed an e-bike near the boat launch. He paddled his kayak in a child-sized floating boat out into the lake. He overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the lake.
"He paddled the inflatable boat to shore and got on his e-bike and road through the night to Madison, [Wisconsin]."
The sheriff continued: "In Madison, he boarded a bus and went to Detroit, and then the Canadian border. He continued on the bus to an airport and got on a plane."
However, Podoll continued to say that police were verifying the information.
He went on to say that Borgwardt specifically chose Green Lake as it's one of the deepest lakes in the state, ABC News reports.
Although, he supposedly feels 'bad' about the 'amount of hours' police had put in to searching for him, as he didn't think authorities would spend more than two weeks looking for him.
"He feels bad about the amount of hours we’ve put in." Podoll added.
And while Borgwardt has been in constant communication with police, he has yet to contact his wife and children, who he last spoke to on August 11.
Podoll continued to say that his family want him back home to 'clean up the mess that he has created', while authorities will continue to keep 'pulling at his heartstrings'.
Joe Yates