Kayaker Who Faked Death Details Escape Plan, Efforts to Stay Hidden & His Big Mistake

Ryan Borgwardt, a 45-year-old father of three, returned to the United States of his own will on Tuesday and was immediately booked into the Green Lake County Jail. The following day, a judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf for the charge of obstructing an officer.

The obstruction charge was for "knowingly placing physical evidence with the intent to mislead officers in the performance of their duties," per court filings.

The suspect was released from jail on a $500 signature bond that afternoon. "We brought a dad back on his own accord," Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said in a press conference yesterday.

He added that Borgwardt had been cooperative with police and that it was his belief the father-of-three felt compelled to return home because of his family, as covered by Fox11.

According to the criminal complaint shared by the news outlet, Borgwardt admitted to police his elaborate plan to abandon his family, as well as detailing that final day when he executed it.

The Green Lake County Sheriff's Office's probable cause statement details both their initial investigation and the missing details that Borgwardt filled in as to what happened the night of August 11 after he made his way out onto Green Lake just after 10:30 p.m. on a kayak.

The following day, investigators recovered the kayak with life jacket still in place, per the affidavit. Police reported that while on the lake, Borgwardt "threw his cell phone in to the lake," and that he "had a fishing pole and tackle box that contained his identifying documents with him and left that in to the lake as well."

The fishing pole was recovered in the lake, while the document reports the tackle box "still containing his identifiers was found washed up on shore."

It was later revealed that Borgwardt had brought an inflatable raft and it was this that he used this to go back to the shore, per the probable cause statement. He then utilized an e-bike he'd previously "stashed on shore, rode it to a Greyhound bust stop and took that bus to the Toronto Airport in Canada."

From there, police report that Borgwardt made his way to "Eastern Europe/Western Asia where he took up residency."

After making contact with police, Borgwardt recalled his elaborate escape plan, sharing that he'd been watching weather reports to determine when to execute his plan because "he knew he had a long bike ride and wanted to have good weather for this."

He shared that on the day he faked his death and made his way north, he "woke up in the morning and went to church with his family." After church, he "went to his shop to prepare." He told police that at some point that day he did go back to his home to pick up a few more things.

He'd purchased the e-bike used for his escape a few weeks prior and loaded it up that day, per the probable cause affidavit. He told police he backed his trailer all the way to the building to block any cameras from possibly seeing him put the loaded e-bike into it.

On his journey toward Canada, Borgwardt detailed traveling primarily "back county roads." According to the affidavit, he exhausted one battery on his way and had to switch them out. He also told police "he got very cold" during the ride.

When asked why he tried to buy a life preserver at Walmart, he explained that he "didn't want to die in the lake, and he couldn't use [the] life preserver he brought with him because that one needed to stay to the kayak to make it more believable [he'd drowned]."

He then said he made his way to a friend's house he knew was not home "to load up [stove] pellets," per the statement. However, he stated he "was surprised when [his friend] ended up showing up earlier than he thought." He told police he quickly closed the trailer to hide the e-bike before speaking casually with the friend for a bit.

In his statement to police, Borgwardt says he got spooked on seeing a squad car as he approached Green Lake at approximately 10 p.m., but determined it may have been finishing a check of the county park, so he told authorities he felt confident he'd be in the clear from that point.

While speaking with police, Borgwardt reiterated his concern that he "had to come up with a plausible story how he got out into the middle of the lake" and "make this believable so that everyone, including law enforcement would think he drowned in the lake."

He detailed getting to what he thought was the deepest part of the lake, then "tossed the phone in the lake," inflated his raft before boarding it and flipping the kayak over.

Borgwardt said that he wound up in hip-deep muck when attempting to leave the lake near where he'd stashed the e-bike and wound up "leaving some muddy footprints." He said he washed is pants and shoes off in the water and "attempted to wash the footprints," but only managed to wash "about two" of them off the roadway.

On his journey toward Canada, Borgwardt detailed traveling primarily on "back county roads." According to the affidavit, he exhausted one battery on his way and had to switch them out. He also told police "he got very cold" during the ride.

He told police that he was particularly aware of the time around 5 a.m. as it's "usually when [his wife] would wake up." It was also at this point he admitted "he was worried because now things were in motion and there was no going back."

Borgwardt ditched his e-bike at approximately 9:15 a.m. in a park near a Greyhound Bus Station, per his statement to police. He rode the bus through Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and then to the border crossing to get to the Toronto airport.

It was at the border that Borgwardt says he told customs and border patrol officials his passport, telling them he didn't have a driver's license. He said he thought this should prove sufficient, but it was not.

He then said "Canadian Border Patrol separated him from the rest of the group and were asking him questions," with Borgwardt believing they seemed "suspicious of him."

When questioned about his travel plans in Canada, he said he was unable to produce his itinerary because his phone had been acting up and was no longer working properly. He'd last used it to contact a woman, believed to be his accomplice in the elaborate plan.

He did reveal the flight he was planning to take and said "ultimately, they allowed him to continue," per the affidavit. He also stated, according to the document, that he'd brought only $5,500 in cash with him.

Borgwardt told investigators that while waiting for his flight, he did check up on the news and saw reports of a missing kayaker, which left him believing "that his plan had worked."

In his statement to police, Borgwardt says he transferred in Paris to an unspecified Asian country, and upon landing there "he went through customs ... and that was fairly easy." While there, he said he again contacted the woman, and "waited about an hour for her to come and pick him up."

This was Wednesday evening, Borgwardt told police, and from there, he and the woman went to and stayed at a hotel for a couple of days. Investigators said the couple ultimately wound up living in the country of Georgia.

While speaking with investigators, Borgwardt opened up about some of the research and work he'd put into trying to get away with his plan to fake his death and disappear.

He told them he looked into other people who'd managed to do it, including one who "disappeared for approximately six years." He looked into the details of lake deaths and how deep in water a body has to go before it won't resurface. He told police, "Everything hinged on me dying in the lake," saying at another point the "whole idea was to sell the death."

Borgwardt said he also looked into the logistics of international travel and taking money across international lines. In particular, he said his focus was on "different ways that he could leave the country with leaving as minimum number of clues as possible."

Keeping track of the news of his disappearance, Borgwardt told investigators he did come to know that they knew he was not deceased and might ultimately track him down, but "wanted to make that as long a time as possible." He told them he "wanted to add as many layers as he possibly could so that he could not be found or tracked."

Even while tracking news stories about his disappearance, Borgwardt said he was careful not to click on most stories, and when he felt compelled to do so, he said he used a VPN and "sometimes made it look like he was in Russia or somewhere other than Georgia."

One flaw in his plan, according to Borgwardt's statement, was that he was unaware of the Bruce's Legacy nonprofit group that aids in search and recovery operations for drowning victims. He said he "thought that law enforcement would only search for a few weeks and maybe check in once in a while."

Borgwardt said his "heart hit the floor" when he received that first email from authorities on November 8. And then he "knew that he made a mistake" when he saw the photograph of the woman believed to have been his accomplice in this whole plot, which authorities had recovered from his laptop.

He explained to police that he'd "attempted to back up the laptop that he left back at home for [his wife]," but "apparently backed up too many things and ... too much data came over." He'd decided to leave it behind because he was trying to sell the lake death angle, he explained.

As the complaint is focused on the obstruction charge, it does not detail a motive for why Borgwardt made an elaborate plan to leave his wife and children, nor does it detail what communication happened between him and police that led to him returning to the United States.

Green Lake County has stated they are seeking restitution for costs associated with their investigation into Borgwardt in the amount of $35,000 to $40,000.