Ryan Borgwardt: Wisconsin father sentenced to jail for same amount of time he faked his death

A man has been sentenced to jail for the same amount of time that he faked his own death in an attempt to start a new life on another continent.

Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was reported missing on August 11 last year after he never returned from a kayaking trip to Green Lake in his home state, Wisconsin.

His family reported him missing the following day, and police searched the surrounding area, finding several clues that suggest he had drowned.

Bordgwardt’s kayak was overturned, and police found his phone, fishing pole, and tackle box with his ID still inside it, the Washington Post reported.

Authorities launched an extensive search for him, using sonar and cadaver dogs, but his wife and three children were left to believe he was “missing, or worse, dead”, according to Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa.

After more than two months of searching without recovering a body, investigators started looking into Borgwardt, and found a search for his name had been executed by Canadian Border Patrol.

By searching Borgwardt’s laptop, they discovered he had been communicating with a woman in Uzbekistan before he went missing and had inquired about moving money to a non US bank, according to Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll.

Investigators suspected he was alive and had fled the country.

On November 8 last year, police contacted Borgwardt by email, and he then returned to the US to face trial, 121 days after he was reported missing.

His wife, who he had been married to for 22 years, filed for divorce shortly afterwards.

District Attorney LaSpisa said Borgwardt’s disappearance was a carefully planned rouse, with the end goal of allowing him to “disappear from his everyday life of being a husband and father in Wisconsin”.

She said he made “extensive” preparations in the lead up to the disappearance, and had researched topics including drownings and how to go missing successfully.

Borgwardt was convicted of obstructing an officer, and was sentenced to 89 days in jail, a period Judge Mark Slate said was equal to the number of days he he had obstructed law enforcement while they searched for him.

At the sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Slate gave a warning to others who are “thinking about faking their death”.

“If you persist in your deception, the longer you obstruct, the longer you are (duplicitous) instead of coming forward and admitting your mistake, the longer the penalty should be,” he said.

Borgwardt had pleaded no contest to the charge, and expressed remorse for his actions in a brief address to the court before he was sentenced.

“I deeply regret the actions that I did that night and all the pain that I caused my family and friends,” he said.

He has also paid approximately $46,000 in financial restitution to local law enforcement, and has agreed to pay court costs.