GREEN LAKE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Ryan Borgwardt appears to have faked his death in Green Lake and left the United States, authorities said in a stunning update Friday.
“We do not know where he is. We know that he is not in our lake,” Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said in a news conference.
Borgwardt, 45, was reported missing Aug. 12 after he did not return home the previous night. Early in the search, Borgwardt’s kayak, life jacket, water bottle, tackle box and fishing pole were found. His vehicle was found near Dodge Memorial County Park on the lake’s southwest shore.
Crews continued to search the lake for Borgwardt’s body for 54 days and came up empty.
Keith Cormican, founder of volunteer search team Bruce’s Legacy, aided in the search for Borgwardt.
“Through the duration of this, I had been underwater for actually 23 days,” he said. “And then I had about eight to 10 days of just reviewing the data.”
Cormican raised concerns to the Sheriff’s Department when he did not find any evidence of Borgwardt underwater.
Podoll laid out new evidence in the Friday news conference.
Authorities discovered that Borgwardt had obtained a second passport, replaced the hard drive on his laptop, cleared his web browser history, synced his laptop to iCloud and changed the email addresses associated with his financial accounts on the day of his disappearance. Invesitgators also found records of inquiries about moving funds to foreign banks, communication with a woman believed to be from Uzbekistan, a new $375,000 life insurance policy and a purchased airline gift card.
“You know, I speculated this, fairly early on. I really questioned if he was there. I’ve never had this happen before, so that’s why we kept going,” Cormican said.
Authorities tell FOX 11 they don’t know exactly where Borgwardt is.
Podoll pleaded for Borgwardt to return home to his wife and children.”Contact us, or contact your family.”
He also promised to identify any crimes committed, anyone who helped with the crimes and investigate the case with state, federal and international law enforcement. Podoll also said he would pursue restitution for taxpayer-funded search expenses.
Comment bubble
JOIN THE CONVERSATION (4)
Anyone with information is asked to text GETTHEM to 847411.
Comments