Wisconsin Man Ryan Borgwardt Fakes Drowning, Wife Seeks Separation
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Emily Borgwardt, the wife of Ryan Borgwardt, filed for legal separation on Thursday after her husband faked his drowning to leave her and their three children behind and meet a woman in Eastern Europe. The couple has been married for 22 years, and the petition, filed in Dodge County Circuit Court, states that the marriage is “irretrievably broken.”
Emily Borgwardt is seeking sole custody of their teenage children and is employed at a private school in Watertown, Wisconsin. Ryan, 45, is listed as self-employed and currently residing at an “unknown address.” No attorney is listed for him in the court records.
Ryan was reported missing on August 12, 2023, after telling his wife he was kayaking on Green Lake, located about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee. Initially thought to have drowned, Ryan’s disappearance became suspicious when investigators discovered he had obtained a new passport just months prior. They eventually speculated that he had staged his death to meet a woman in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia.
After months of investigation, Ryan was contacted by authorities in November and agreed to return to the U.S. He turned himself in at the Green Lake County sheriff’s office on Tuesday and was charged with obstructing the search for his body.
According to the criminal complaint, Ryan traveled from his family’s home in Watertown to Green Lake on August 11. There, he overturned his kayak, paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft, and discarded his identification in the lake. Afterward, he rode an electric bicycle 70 miles to Madison, caught a bus to Toronto, and then flew to Paris before reaching an unspecified country in Eastern Europe. Ryan later told investigators that he met the woman and spent several days with her before relocating to Georgia.
Ryan was released from jail on a signature bond. At his court appearance, he told the judge he had only $20 in his wallet and planned to represent himself, though the court suggested appointing an attorney for him. A hearing for the separation case is scheduled for April.