Back in August, a father went missing following a kayak accident. Now, authorities believe that he faked his disappearance and fled the country.
In a news conference on Friday, Nov. 8, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll confirmed that authorities believe that Ryan Borgwardt is alive and well. They believe that Borgwardt faked his disappearance and kayak accident. It's been more than 54 days since anyone has seen the missing father.
On August 12, authorities responded to a missing persons call. They found the man's vehicle and trailer in Dodge Memorial Park near Green Lake. They also later found a capsized kayak in water hundreds of feet deep. Fast forward to the following day, and they found his fishing rod as well as tackle box with wallet, keys, and license.
All this evidence points to a terrible fishing accident, right? Wrong! Divers and search dogs combed the area following the kayak accident. Volunteers also searched the area for weeks as well. However, Sheriff Podoll later learned that Borgwardt's name was flagged by Canadian law enforcement a day after he went missing!
Missing Father Faked Kayak Accident
"That was something we didn't expect," the sheriff told reporters last week. They ended up examining the laptop he left behind. He had replaced his hard drive and cleared its browsing history. They later discovered that Borgwardt got a replacement passport months before he went missing.
They believe he is somewhere in Europe. He had moved his funds to a foreign bank and also changed his email. He also communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan as well.
"Due to these discoveries of the new evidence, we were sure that Ryan was not in our lake," Podoll said. "I want to thank the family, I want to thank his wife. That is one strong lady."
"Whenever we called on her, she always responded and she gave everything that she could for us," he said. "I cannot imagine what she's going through and they're going through."
Podoll also added, "They thought that their dad was drowned. A day ago, they found out that he wasn't."
The sheriff also blasted the missing father for what he did to his family.
"Ryan, if you are viewing this, I plead that you contact us or contact your family," he said. "We understand that things can happen, but there's a family that wants their daddy back."
