Wisconsin authorities believe a kayaker faked his death and is living in Europe

Authorities in Wisconsin believe a kayaker who went missing during the summer months and was believed dead is actually alive and living in Europe.

The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office shared the dramatic development in the search for 45-year-old Ryan Borgwardt of Watertown at a press conference Friday.

“We don’t know where it is, but it’s not on our lake,” Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said.

U.S. Customs, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI were also involved in the investigation into Borgwardt’s disappearance in Green Lake.

After weeks of searching the lake with no results, authorities said they determined he had a second passport, asked questions about transferring money to foreign banks, purchased airline gift cards, took out a $375,000 life insurance policy and was communicating with a prominent woman in Uzbekistan. He led them to believe that he had faked his disappearance.

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The sheriff’s office said Borgwardt, a married father of two, replaced the hard drive in his laptop and cleaned the scanners the day he disappeared (Aug. 12).

Podoll said the search for Borgwardt and the latest development have been difficult for his family.

The news was also difficult for search groups like Bruce’s Legacy to hear. The group is a non-profit organization founded by Keith Cormican that specializes in dowsing.

“It’s kind of hard to accept because it involved so much expense,” Cormican said.

He said speculation started at the beginning of the investigation.

“I’ve never searched this much, this area in this much detail and come to a conclusion,” Cormican said.

Cormican spent 23 days on the water; this was nearly half the time Borgwardt was missing. The Borgwardt family was there when they learned of the new developments.

“As you can imagine, they were very shocked, it was very heartbreaking for the family,” Cormican said.

The Green Lake Sheriff’s Office will now attempt to identify all crimes committed and anyone who assisted in these crimes. The sheriff said they will also seek to recover taxpayer-funded search costs.

This story was first published by Mike Beiermeister at: Scripps News Milwaukee.