US father-of-three who faked his own death to be with Asian lover has been jailed
A man from Wisconsin has been sentenced after faking his own death so he could have an affair with a lover from the other side of the world.
Ryan Borgwardt tried to escape the US last August when he pretended to drown while kayaking at a lake.
The 45-year-old's wife and three children thought he was dead, but this wasn't the case.
He was actually alive and well, all while having an affair with an Asian woman in the European country of Georgia.
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He texted his wife on 11 August, 2024 that he was kayaking on Green Lake in Wisconsin and was headed for shore. Not long after, officials located his overturned kayak and life jacket, after a search mission was launched by authorities and volunteers.
After secretly rowing an inflatable boat back to shore, deputies reported that he rode an e-bike through the night to Madison.
He then hopped on a bus to Detroit before making his way to the Canadian border, where he boarded a plane to flee the country via Asia, and then onto Europe.
In October, investigators found out that he was speaking to a woman from Uzbekistan, a country in central Asia, and had been checked by Canadian law enforcement two days after he vanished.
Prosecutors said he also researched how to get a new passport and new life insurance policy, before clearing his internet history the day he went missing.
Borgwardt returned to the US after police contacted him in November and charged him with obstructing the search for his body the following month.
The court heard that he 'researched and studied how to successfully disappear' with the expectation that 'Green Lake’s great depth would mean that a body would not surface'.
"I deeply regret the actions that I did that night and all the pain that I caused my family and friends," Borgwardt said.
“He came back from Europe to take responsibility for his actions and I think that’s worth noting as well,” defence attorney Erik Johnson added.
“This was a non-extraditable misdemeanor. If he didn’t want to come back, he didn’t need to come back. He did and he wanted to make amends, and that’s why he returned.”
After changing his plea to guilty, Borgwardt agreed to pay $30,000 to the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
“He believed that Green Lake’s great depth would mean that a body would not surface,” District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa added.
“According to the defendant, his entire plan to fake his death, to devastate his family in order to serve his own selfish desire, hinged on his dying in the lake and selling his death to the world. His words.
“What defendant did not count on was the great concern and dedication of the Green Lake County community and the dogged resolve of our law enforcement.”
Topics: Crime, US News, Sex and Relationships
Anish Vij