The Wisconsin man who allegedly hatched an elaborate plan to fake his death before turning up with a woman in western Asia returned to U.S. soil and was arrested, authorities said Wednesday.
Ryan Borgwardt, handcuffed and wearing an orange jumpsuit, appeared Wednesday afternoon before a Green Lake County judge and was charged with obstruction of an officer.
When Circuit Court Judge Mark Slate asked Borgwardt, 45, if he could afford bail, the defendant said: "I have $20 in my wallet in the other room, so that’s what I have.”
Since Borgwardt "voluntarily turned himself in" on Tuesday from "halfway around the world," Slate said the defendant didn't pose a major flight risk and set bail at $500.
Borgwardt faces up to a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail for the alleged scheme that took him across the Atlantic Ocean.
Borgwardt staged his Aug. 12 disappearance on Green Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee, to look like a fatal kayaking accident, officials said.
After Borgwardt didn't come home from his day on the lake, searchers found a capsized kayak and his vehicle and trailer parked in Dodge Memorial County Park.
Borgwardt left his lifejacket, fishing pole and tackle box in the kayak to "make this believable" so that "everyone, including law enforcement, would think he drowned," according to a criminal complaint filed by District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa.
"Ryan stated 'everything hinged on me dying in that lake,'" according to the complaint. "Ryan also stated, (the) 'whole idea was to sell the death.'"
An air and water search didn't turn up any remains or physical clues of what became of Borgwardt.
Investigators later found he used a small inflatable boat to return to shore, where he had stashed an electric bike, officials said. Borgwardt rode it to Madison and boarded a bus that took him to Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit and into Canada, before eventually boarding a plane, the complaint said.
His plan was nearly foiled by Canadian border patrol agents who were suspicious of Borgwardt's not having a driver's license, which had been ditched in his wallet in the lake.
He talked his way out of that stop and made it to Toronto, where he purchased an Air France flight for Paris and then flew from there to another nation in "Eastern Europe/Western Asia," according to the complaint.
But when the married father of three used his own passport in Canada, that helped authorities trace his long journey overseas.
Once at that post-Paris destination, Borgwardt emailed "an adult female" who picked him up, and "they stayed at the hotel for a couple of days," prosecutors said.
While the court document did not explicitly state where Borgwardt, who had $5,500 cash on him, ended up, prosecutors strongly suggested he was in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
The Wisconsin man told investigators he went online to check news stories about his disappearance, using a VPN to "make it look like he was in Russia or somewhere else other than Georgia," the complaint said.
Borgwardt "stated that he knew that Georgia" could extradite him to the U.S. "and he wanted to be informed and prepared," according to the complaint.
The probe also found that Borgwardt had opened a foreign bank account and was in communication with a woman from Uzbekistan, officials had previously said.
After international calls for help to find Borgwardt, a Russian-speaking woman reached out to Green Lake County Sheriff's deputies and helped them contact him, authorities said.
Borgwardt knew his plan was coming apart on Nov. 8, when he received an email from Green Lake County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Matthew Vandekolk, prosecutors said.
Borgwardt stated that his "heart hit the floor," upon receiving the email, the complaint said.
"Ryan also stated that he saw the picture of [the woman that he went to meet] and knew that he made a mistake, the one mistake he couldn't make," the complaint continued.
Investigators said they found evidence on the laptop he left at home.
"Ryan stated that he had to sell the death and that he couldn't take his laptop with him, it needed to be believable that he died in the lake," the complaint said.
The sheriff on Nov. 21 released a part of his department's video conversation with Borgwardt, who on Nov. 11 said he was alive, well and living in an apartment. His exact location wasn't disclosed.
The sheriff had appealed to Borgwardt to come home and be with his family for the holidays.
"We just briefly spoke to them, and I can only, only imagine how they feel," Sheriff Mark Podoll told reporters Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone from Borgwardt’s family was in court Wednesday.
Slate entered a not guilty plea for Borgwardt and set his next court date for Jan. 13.
“We brought a dad back on his own accord,” Sheriff Podoll said, thanking his staff, federal authorities and local volunteers who worked on this case.
“They’re the ones that kept this going,” Podoll added, his voice cracking with emotion. “I couldn’t be more proud of them for what they did for a family. We didn’t give up. And you can stand here today feeling relieved.”
