A father of three who allegedly staged his own demise has recently surfaced to share the details of how he managed it.
Ryan Borgwardt vanished on August 12 after embarking on a solo kayaking trip at Green Lake, Wisconsin.
His lifejacket and kayak were later found, leading authorities to suspect he encountered trouble while kayaking and possibly drowned.
A thorough search was initiated to locate the 45-year-old, extending over 50 days, yet Borgwardt remained missing.
However, suspicions arose when it was discovered that Borgwardt had recently secured a substantial life insurance policy before his alleged ‘death’.
Green Lake County Chief Deputy Sheriff, Matthew Vande Kolk, informed the BBC: “We believe that he is alive. We know that he’s not in our lake.”
These suspicions were confirmed on November 12 when contact was made with Borgwardt through a Russian-speaking woman, and he subsequently filmed a video to verify his well-being.
Borgwardt has not disclosed his whereabouts to the police, but it is speculated that he is in Eastern Europe.
“We do not know where Ryan exactly is,” the sheriff stated. “He has not yet decided to return home. We’ve had nearly daily communications with Ryan.”
So how did he manage this escape?
According to ABC News, in a press conference on Thursday (November 21), Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll described how Borgwardt executed his plan.
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 rode through the night to Madison, [Wisconsin].”
The sheriff elaborated: “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.”
Nevertheless, Podoll mentioned that the police are in the process of verifying the details provided.
He also noted that Borgwardt selected Green Lake because it is one of the deepest lakes in the state, as reported by ABC News.
Despite this, Borgwardt reportedly feels remorseful about the extensive search efforts, as he did not anticipate the authorities would invest more than two weeks in searching for him.
“He feels bad about the amount of hours we’ve put in.” Podoll added.
While Borgwardt has been in regular contact with the police, he has not reached out to his wife and children, whom he last communicated with on August 11.
Podoll further stated that his family is eager for his return to ‘clean up the mess that he has created’, and authorities will persist in ‘pulling at his heartstrings’.