Wisconsin Kayaker Who Faked His Death Sentenced To 3 Months In Prison

The guy from Wisconsin that we talked about extensively about a year ago has been sentenced to prison.

You surely remember the case. A family man, Ryan Borgwardt, was reported missing after not returning from a kayak trip to Green Lake, on August 12th, 2024.

First responders found his kayak overturned and his phone in the water,  which made officials believe he had drowned, but after a 58-day search, Ryan's body was never found, so they began expanding their search.

It was found that Ryan had gotten a new passport three months before his disappearance, and then they found he had been communicating with a woman from Uzbekistan. They also found he had purchased a life insurance policy for $375,000.

After getting everything planned out, he went to Green Lake. He overturned his kayak on the lake, paddled to shore in an inflatable raft he brought with him, dropping his identifiers along the way. Then, he rode a stashed electric bicycle 70 miles through the night to Madison, Wisconsin.

From Madison, he took a bus across the border to Toronto, before flying to Paris - connecting in "a country in Asia" before landing in the country Georgia.

His Uzbek lady friend picked him up and they spent several days in a hotel.

“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.

Police had made contact with Ryan, trying to convince him to just come home back in December. He turned himself in and was charged with obstructing an investigation.

In court, prosecutors pushed for 45 days in jail for the charge, and restituion of $30,000 for police work that was done on the case. He plead no contest.

The judge then doubled the days asked by prosecutors to 89 days - the number of days between his "disappearance" and law enforcement getting a hold of him by phone.

At home, his wife divorced him earlier this year after 22 years. His willingness to come home doesn't sound good for his relationship with his Uzbekistan lover.