Wisconsin missing kayaker who faked his own death is sentenced to 89 days in jail

A Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning while kayaking and left his wife and three children to meet a woman in the country of Georgia was convicted Tuesday of obstructing an officer and sentenced to 89 days in jail, which was the amount of time he successfully misled law enforcement about his whereabouts.

The sentence given to Ryan Borgwardt was nearly twice as long as what was recommended under a plea deal reached with prosecutors.

Borgwardt, 45, initially pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor that stemmed from his elaborate escape from the country last August. But under the plea deal unveiled Tuesday, Borgwardt changed his plea to no contest and agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to law enforcement to cover what was spent trying to locate him. A no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.

“I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family, friends,” Borgwardt said in court before being sentenced.

Prosecutors asked Green Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Slate to sentence Borgwardt to just 45 days in jail. But the judge nearly doubled it to 89 days. That is the number of days from when he was declared missing until the sheriff’s department made contact with him overseas, the judge said.

“He obstructed law enforcement for a total of 89 days,” Slate said.

The longer sentence can serve as a deterrent to anyone else who may be considering faking their death and misleading law enforcement, the judge said.

Borgwardt was reported missing on Aug. 12, 2024, after telling his wife the night before that he was kayaking on Green Lake, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee.

His disappearance was first investigated as a possible drowning. But after failing to find his body following a 58-day search, the investigation broadened. Subsequent clues, including that he obtained a new passport three months before he disappeared, led investigators to speculate that Borgwardt had faked his death to meet up with a woman from Uzbekistan he had been communicating with.

Investigators made contact with Borgwardt in November and convinced him to return to the U.S. in December. He turned himself in and was charged with obstructing the search for his body. His wife of 22 years divorced him four months later.

According to the criminal complaint, Borgwardt traveled 50 miles (80 kilometers) from his family’s home in Watertown to Green Lake on Aug. 11, 2024. During the night, he overturned his kayak on the lake, paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft that he brought with him — dumping his identification in the lake along the way — and rode an electric bicycle 70 miles (112) kilometers) to Madison. From there he caught a bus to Toronto, flew to Paris and then to “a country in Asia,” before he landed in the European country of Georgia, according to the criminal complaint.

He told investigators that a woman picked him up and they spent several days in a hotel before he took up residency in Georgia, according to the complaint.

“His entire plan to fake his death to devastate his family in order to serve his own selfish desires hinged on him dying in the lake and selling his death to the world,” Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa said ahead of sentencing.

She noted that he took out a life insurance policy, applied for a replacement passport and reversed his vasectomy before faking his death to meet a woman he met online just months earlier.

“The defendant did not count on the determination and dedication of our law enforcement,” LaSpisa said.

Borgwardt’s attorney, Erik Johnson, said Borgwardt “deeply regrets” his actions, and that he returned to the country “to make amends.” He noted that Borgwardt paid the $30,000 in restitution last week.