A Wisconsin man is alive and well and most likely in Uzbekistan after he faked his own death in a staged kayaking accident — and he is now in talks with officials hoping to bring him home to his family, authorities said Thursday.
Green Lake County sheriff's deputies have been in touch with Ryan Borgwardt, 45, a married father of two, who was reported missing in August and now appears to be in Uzbekistan or eastern Europe — officials said they could not pinpoint his exact locale.
A Russian-speaking woman helped investigators get in touch with Borgwardt, officials said. When investigators reached him, he correctly answered questions about himself and his family that only he would have known, they said.
“The great news was knowing that he’s alive and well,” Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll told reporters. “The bad news is we do not know where Ryan exactly is, and he has not yet decided to return home.”
Podoll played a video conversation the department had with Borgwardt, in which he was wearing an orange T-shirt and assured everyone he was OK.
"Good evening, it's Ryan Borgwardt," he told the camera. "Today is Nov. 11. It's approximately 10 a.m. by you guys. I'm in my apartment. I am safe, secure, no problem."
Borgwardt went out onto Green Lake, where he dumped his phone in the water and used a "child-sized" inflatable boat to get back to shore, Podoll said.
Borgwardt left an electric bike on shore and rode it to Madison before he boarded a bus to Detroit, crossing into Canada and eventually boarding a plane, Podoll added.
Podoll said his department is trying to talk Borgwardt into returning to America. While investigators did not go into detail about why Borgwardt went abroad, they said he was not being held against his will.
"Our concern has been that he safely gets back to U.S. soil," Podoll said. "He needs to return home to his children. If he chooses not to return, it's on his own free will, and I think the message is very clear."
Podoll did not go into detail about what issues Borgwardt might have been facing in the U.S. to prompt his strange move.
"In our communications, we are expressing the importance of his decision to return home and clean up the mess he has created," Podoll said.
Borgwardt went missing on Aug. 12, and investigators found a capsized kayak and his vehicle and trailer parked in Dodge Memorial County Park.
An extensive air and water search around the area did not turn up any remains or physical clues about what happened. But an international electronic trail soon emerged that hinted he was alive and on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Investigators found that he had opened a foreign bank account and changed his email address, that he was in communication with a woman from Uzbekistan and that Canadian law enforcement ran his passport on Aug. 13, officials have said.
"His biggest concern is how the community is going to react" to his possibly coming home, Podoll said Thursday. "I can see that. He staged his death, and unfortunately one of the things that he did say was he didn't expect us to go more than two weeks in searching for him. I hate to tell you, he picked the wrong sheriff and the wrong department."
Green Lake is Wisconsin's deepest inland lake, which most likely played a role in why Borgwardt used it as the scene of his staged death, officials said.
"He did the research, he did, and he thought his plan was going to pan out," Podoll said. "But it didn't go the way he had planned. So now we're trying to give him a different plan."
Despite the manpower spent to look for him, Podoll did not rule out that Borgwardt could avoid criminal charges if he just came home.
"We have been continuing to contact the family members regarding our communication with Ryan," he said. "No warrants have been issued yet. We believe that warrants will not be needed if Ryan cooperates and decides to return home soon."
With the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays fast approaching, officials hope they could be incentive for Borgwardt to come home.
"We keep pulling at his heartstrings," Podoll said. "We're not going to give up. We want to continue, because he needs to come home to his kids."
The wayward Wisconsin man was not going to leave his family in a total lurch, officials said, as he took out a life insurance policy that was going to take care of his American loved ones.
"It wasn't for him; it was for his family," Podoll said. "He was just going to try to make things better, in his mind."
Podoll's voice choked with emotion as he pleaded with Borgwardt to reunite with his family.
"I got one more thing to say," Podoll said. "Christmas is coming, and what better gift he could give his kids is to be there for Christmas?"
