Police thought a Wisconsin dad died in a kayaking accident ⏤ then they checked his laptop

On the evening of Aug. 11, 44-year-old Ryan Borgwardt’s wife received a text from her husband telling her he was headed to Green Lake to kayak, but he never returned. Borgwardt’s wife reported him missing, and authorities immediately launched an extensive search of the area with dogs, drones, divers, and sonar.

Authorities found Borgwardt’s kayak overturned in over 200 feet of water at Green Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee. Searchers also spotted Borgwardt’s fishing rod, tackle box, wallet, keys, and driver’s license. His disappearance was initially assumed to be a tragic drowning accident, and it was presumed his remains would be found. But according to regular Facebook updates from the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office, though authorities searched Geen Lake for weeks, Borgwardt’s body was never recovered.

A digital trail leads to Europe

After several months of searching, Wisconsin police tried a new tactic, and only then did the puzzle pieces of Borgwardt’s disappearance fit together. According to the Green Lake County Sherrif’s office, local and federal authorities checked Borgwardt’s laptop, and discovered he had been in contact with a woman in Uzbekistan. He had also taken out a new life insurance policy, inquired about transferring money to foreign banks, and obtained a new passport just a few months before he allegedly staged his drowning, although his family said his previous passport wasn’t missing.

Tellingly, forensic evidence on Borgwardt’s laptop revealed he’d taken steps to cover his digital tracks on the same day he vanished. Suspicious that Borgwardt planned the apparent drowning to fake his death and then run away to Eastern Europe, possibly to meet the woman in person with whom he’d been communicating, investigators then learned Borgwardt’s name was checked by Canadian law enforcement two days after the Green Lake kayak trip.

“We know that he’s not in our lake”

At a Nov. 8 press conference, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said, “Due to the discovery of this new evidence, we are confident that Ryan is not located in Green Lake, and we have ended all search efforts associated with Green Lake. At this time, we believe that Ryan is alive and likely in Eastern Europe.”

Podoll said the investigation was ongoing, but Borgwardt could face charges. He added, “We recovered that he replaced his hard drive on the laptop. He cleared the browser on the day of his disappearance. He synced the laptop into the cloud on Aug. 11. He took photos of his passport.”

Podoll urged Borgwardt to reach out to his family. “Ryan, if you’re viewing this, I plead that you contact us or contact your family. We understand that things can happen, but there’s a family that wants their daddy back,” Podoll said.

Borgwardt has three high school and grade school-age children. Borgwardt’s wife, Emily Borgwardt, told NBC News via text, “I cannot make any comments at this time since it is still an active investigation.” Referring to Borgwardt’s family, Sheriff Podoll called Emily “one strong lady” at the press conference and added, referring to Borgwardt’s children, “They thought that their dad was drowned. A day ago, they found out that he wasn’t.”