A Wisconsin man has been accused of faking his own death, located halfway across the world after having supposedly gone missing while kayaking.
Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was the subject of a 54-day search of Green Lake, a natural inland lake about 100 miles outside of Milwaukee.
Authorities reportedly used underwater drones, towable submersible sonar and live divers in their efforts to locate the body of the married father of three, but came up empty.
Because Borgwardt wasn’t dead at the bottom of Green Lake. He was very much alive and living in Eastern Europe.
Authorities discovered that, though Borgwardt had reported his passport lost, he used a second passport to enter Canada legally on August 13. It was also learned that, before his sudden disappearance, Borgwardt had taken out a life insurance policy and had been in contact with a woman in Uzbekistan.
Police say that, while they have made contact with Borgwardt, he demurred when asked for his current whereabouts and said he has no intention of telling them where he is or returning home.
Even if he was located and brought back to face charges though, those charges would be minor, according to one law professor.
John Gross of the University of Wisconsin told USA Today that Borgwardt could be charged with misdemeanor obstruction for staging what looked like a disappearance at Green Lake.
“The definition of obstruction, in this case, is when you give false information to an officer or you knowingly place physical evidence with the intent to mislead an officer, so when he dumps his kayak and leaves his wallet, that’s knowingly planting evidence,” he said.
But since his family has not attempted to cash in the life insurance policy, that would take a potential felony insurance fraud charge off the table.
For now though, it seems Borgwardt plans to spend the rest of his days far out of the reach of Wisconsin police.