Ryan Borgwardt really thought he could pull a fast one on the authorities by faking his own death to escape to Europe to be with his mistress. I mean, who hasn’t thought about running away to be with their lover? But faking your own death? That’s some next-level stuff.
Well, as you can probably guess, things didn’t go as planned for Ryan. Turns out, his elaborate plan didn’t fool anyone and he ended up getting caught. And now, instead of sipping wine in Europe with his mistress, he’s sitting in a jail cell back in the States.
Judge Mark Slate sentenced Borgwardt, 45, of Watertown, to 89 days behind bars -the same amount of time as he misled law enforcement for last year, according to ABC affiliate WISN12.
‘The court finds the appropriate time for the defendant to spend in the county jail is the length of time he allowed his deception to continue,’ Slate said.
The judge also ordered him to pay $30,000 in costs to Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
‘Certainly, any criminal charge, conviction and sentence that this court today hands down will not be able to come close to undoing the incredible damage this defendant, by his premeditated, selfish actions, has done, not only to his family, but our community,’ Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa said.
Borgwardt was charged with obstruction related to the $30,000 manhunt which was launched following his disappearance on August 11, 2024.
Police learned in October the father-of-three had crossed the border into Canada a few days after his disappearance and had been communicating with a Uzbek woman who spoke Russian.
‘He regularly communicated with the woman, professing his love and desire to create a new life with her,’ LaSpisa said, per WISN12.
‘He reversed his vasectomy, he applied for a replacement passport, claiming that his original one, which his wife found in the family safe in its normal place, was lost or stolen.’
Police did not release details of where he was staying or who he was with while he was missing. They confirmed that Borgwardt flew back into an international airport in the US of his own volition.
Authorities spent 54 days looking for the Wisconsin man before announcing on November 8 that they didn’t believe he had drowned in the lake, but rather had faked his own death.
They revealed that he deliberately flipped his kayak and dumped his phone and belongings in the water before paddling to safety on an inflatable boat and e-biking more than 50 miles to Madison overnight.
Borgwardt had been talking to the woman in Uzbekistan before he obtained a new passport and a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
Police managed to establish contact and in November, Borgwardt – who had not contacted his family since his disappearance – sent a video in which he showed off his apartment, telling officers: ‘I am safe, secure, no problems.’
But the same could not be said for his heartbroken family, who were being supported by the Sheriff’s Office.
‘They are doing okay, that’s probably the best thing you could say,’ Vande Kolk explained in November.
‘I can’t compare their situation to anything I have ever experienced in law enforcement before, I don’t have any reference.’
Borgwardt told authorities that he faked his death because of ‘personal matters,’ Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said.
He also told them that he picked Green Lake for his master plan because it’s the deepest in Wisconsin.
The scheme was elaborately planned.
Borgwardt left his original passport at home when he vanished, and police said he tried to cover his tracks by removing his laptop hard drive and wiping his search history clean.
Before his disappearance, he also changed all the email addresses linked to his bank accounts and moved money to a foreign bank account.
Lesson learned – maybe just be smart about it next time, Ryan!
