A Wisconsin husband who faked his own death and ran away with his mistress is speaking to the cops ‘on a near daily basis’, but still refusing to disclose his location.
Ryan Borgwardt, 45, purposely flipped his kayak on Green Lake on August 11, dumping 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, the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday.
His disappearance devastated his wife and three children and sparked a massive manhunt, for which law enforcement want to send him a $40,000 bill.
However, officers said they are focused on trying to get Borgwardt to turn himself in for his family’s sake.
‘We are speaking to him on a near daily basis, encouraging him to come home and clean up the mess he has created,’ Chief Deputy Matthew Vande Kolk told DailyMail.com.
‘We’re not pursuing a boots on the ground approach or anything like that at this moment, we still believe he will do the right thing and we have been in constant contact.’
Police learned in October that Borgwardt had crossed the border into Canada a few days after his disappearance and had been communicating with a Uzbek woman who spoke Russian.
Vande Kolk confirmed the two ‘connected online’, but said he could not elaborate further at this stage.
Through her, the Sheriff’s Office was able to get in contact with the father-of-three and asked him to answer questions only he would know and to film a video of himself, which he did.
In the video, Borgwardt – who has not contacted his family since his disappearance – showed off his apartment, telling officers: ‘I am safe, secure, no problems.’
But the same cannot be said for his heartbroken family, who are also being supported by the Sheriff’s Office.
‘They are doing okay, that’s probably the best thing you could say,’ Vande Kolk explained.
‘I can’t compare their situation to anything I have ever experienced in law enforcement before, I don’t have any reference.’
Authorities do not know exactly where the married man is, but they suspect he is in Eastern Europe.
Vande Kolk said he has no idea when Borgwardt plans to come back, but has been encouraged by the communication that has been established.
‘We are making constant progress and the fact that he has stayed in contact is encouraging.’
The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office is now seeking $35,000 to $40,000 in restitution for the money used in the search. Authorities used divers, drones, sonar and cadaver K-9s, and more to look for the missing father, according to ABC News.
Borgwardt could also face obstruction charges, the sheriff said.
Podoll is hoping the father will make the decision to return home.
‘He needs to come home to his kids,’ he said at the press conference, saying officers are trying to ‘pull at his heartstrings.’
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.
Investigators revealed that Borgwardt had been talking to a woman in Uzbekistan before he obtained a new passport and a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
Borgwardt is believed to have used the new passport in Canada a day after he was reported missing.
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’s hard drive and wiping his search history clean.
Before his disappearance, he changed all the email addresses linked to his bank accounts and moved money to a foreign bank account.
Borgwardt’s devastated wife, Emily, and their three children, have been grieving their loss, believing for months he was likely dead.
She is now being urged to join support groups for women with ‘runaway husbands’ as her friends and community rally around her.
She and Borgwardt celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary in July 2024.