OAN Staff Abril Elfi
3:53 PM – Wednesday, December 11, 2024
A Wisconsin man who had faked his own death and fled the country has been charged after returning to the United States.
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On Wednesday, Ryan Borgwardt, who faked his own drowning and left his wife and three children for Eastern Europe, willingly returned to the U.S. after four months. He was charged with obstructing an intense lake search by staging the tragedy.
A judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf and set a $500 bond for the obstruction charge, which is a misdemeanor, but Borgwardt only has to pay if he violates his release conditions.
The 45-year-old said he will represent himself, but a court-appointed lawyer is also an option.
Earlier Wednesday, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll stated that Borgwardt “came back on his own” on Tuesday due to family obligations.
“We can stand here today feeling relieved,” Podoll said.
According to Podoll, Borgwardt began communicating with authorities on November 11th after disappearing for three months but hadn’t committed to returning to Wisconsin. He continued stating that police were “pulling at his heartstrings” to come home.
He then declined to discuss the details of Borgwardt’s return, and said that “he got on an airplane and landed in the U.S.” and turned himself in at the Green Lake County Justice Center.
Borgwardt told authorities last month that he staged his death for “personal reasons,” the sheriff said in November. He explained that in mid-August, he traveled about 50 miles from his Watertown home to Green Lake, where he overturned his kayak, dumped his phone, and paddled an inflatable boat to shore. He said he chose that lake because it is the deepest in Wisconsin.
After leaving the lake, he rode an electric bike for about 70 miles through the night to Madison. From there, he said he took a bus to Detroit, then a bus to Canada, and finally a plane.
On the day Borgwardt went missing, the laptop’s hard drive was replaced, and the browsers were cleared, according to a November news release from Podoll. Investigators discovered passport photos, inquiries about moving funds to foreign banks, and communication with a woman from Uzbekistan. They also discovered that Borgwardt had taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
On November 11th, law enforcement personnel made contact with Borgwardt. He sent them a video of himself wearing an orange T-shirt without smiling. He stated in the video that he was in his apartment and briefly panned the camera, which mostly showed a door and bare walls. He didn’t say where he was.
The sheriff’s office has said the search for Borgwardt’s body, which lasted more than a month, cost at least $35,000. He also stated that Borgwardt told authorities that he didn’t expect the search to last more than two weeks.
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