In Wisconsin, a kayaker named Ryan Borgward engaged in a bizarre scheme where he faked his own death to meet a woman he met online. This week, he received a sentence of 89 days after an incident in August 2024, during which he abandoned his family—his wife and three children—to travel to Georgia, a country in Eastern Europe.
According to Green Lake County District Attorney Jeris Laspisa, Borgward’s plan involved creating a story about drowning in a lake to deceive people into believing he was dead. Investigators managed to reach him in November, persuading him to come back to the U.S. by December. Following this, he faced charges for misleading the authorities and obstructing the search for his supposed body. His wife divorced him four months later.
Borgward, 45, had initially pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge but, as part of a plea agreement reached on Tuesday, he changed his plea to guilty and agreed to pay $30,000 to cover law enforcement expenses incurred during the search for him. In court, he expressed deep regret for his actions and the distress caused to his family.
While prosecutors requested a sentence of just 45 days, the judge increased it to 89 days, coinciding with the duration he was missing before authorities located him abroad. Judge Mark Slate emphasized the substantial effort wasted by law enforcement in the 89 days he had eluded them.
In a strange sequence of events, after attending church with his family, Borgward drove around 50 miles to Green Lake. Authorities report that he capsized his kayak before returning to shore with an inflatable raft, deliberately discarding his phone and identification into the water. After covering his tracks, he bicycled 70 miles and eventually took a bus to Canada, then flew to Paris, and onward to Georgia and an undisclosed Asian country.
Borgward told investigators that a woman had picked him up, and they spent time at a hotel before his move to Georgia. Laspisa pointed out that he’d taken out life insurance, arranged for a replacement passport, and was attempting to stage his death to pursue this online relationship.
According to prosecutors, Borgward’s actions not only disrupted the lives of his family but also burdened law enforcement resources significantly.
