Found Alive WI - Ryan Borgwardt, 45, Green Lake, 11 Aug 2024 *evidence that he faked his death and is alive in Eastern Europe*

[modesty blaise]

Is it cowardice? I have to admit, there's something alluring in letting it all go and staring anew.

I get that point.
I mean he could have given his family the peace out sign and leave through the front door.

 

[kaen]

Is it cowardice? I have to admit, there's something alluring in letting it all go and staring anew.

I do think it is cowardice. His family was traumatized by the idea that their loved one drowned and is not found. Local resources, at risk to themselves, went back into that water repeatedly to find and return a loved person's body. It is hard to man (or, woman) up and say, "I am unhappy and leaving you. I found someone else." It is painful and gut wrenching to those who love you but they know your feelings and your actions. They are not waiting by the waterside, day in and day out, slowly losing hope to ever find you.

If one wants to start a new, I get it as I have had my days of wanting to start fresh. But, when you have people who love you and depend on you, you have a responsibility to say it out loud and then do it if you want. Plenty of people do it. I see it as cowardice, to be sure, JMHO.

 

[MyJoey]

The United States does not have an extradition treaty or mutual legal assistance agreement in place with Uzbekistan.

Technical Difficulties

If he’s not charged with a crime, I don’t see how he could be made to return. Guess they could pull the insurance fraud as a charge. I don’t see him coming home willingly, even if he was scammed. I would think he would be horribly ashamed……then again lol. Seriously hard to know what’s goes through someone’s head when they are willing to go to extreme measures to disappear.

 

[Sjöberg]

Was it simply to escape having to pay alimony/child support? Because you can simply... divorce and move out

You can divorce your partner, but can you legally give up your kids? At the moment I don't even mean the money (I guess you always have to pay), but the visitations and what not? Can you go no contact with your kids if you want to, legally fully give up your parental rights by yourself? Or is the only way to be deemed unfit for parenting (abusing kids or similar)? Similarly, can you legally move abroad if your kids stay in the country?

 

[MyJoey]

So anyone have thoughts on how he got to Canada?
Thoughts if someone helped him?
Thoughts on why he went to Canada?

 

[meanmaryjean]

So anyone have thoughts on how he got to Canada?
Thoughts if someone helped him?
Thoughts on why he went to Canada?

It's only a 6 hour drive to reach the Sault St Marie crossing. Rental car and as a US citizen you cross pretty easily.

 

[wnk]

So anyone have thoughts on how he got to Canada?
Thoughts if someone helped him?
Thoughts on why he went to Canada?

I'm curious about this, too.

Green Lake, WI, to Sault Ste Marie, ON, is only a six hour drive, but there's basically no public transportation in that part of Wisconsin, and a rideshare of that length would definitely be conspicuous. There's a small airport near Green Lake, but he'd need someone to fly him out of there.

 

[wnk]

It's only a 6 hour drive to reach the Sault St Marie crossing. Rental car and as a US citizen you cross pretty easily.

Green Lake is in a very rural area. The closest car rental I could find is Oshkosh, 26 miles away.

 

[BrownRice]

Is it cowardice? I have to admit, there's something alluring in letting it all go and staring anew.

But not if you have family; especially children, it’s horrible.

 

[Vaderman]

But not if you have family; especially children, it’s horrible.

Perhaps he found them unbearable? I do wonder which is worse: telling your family you can't stand them and peacing out or just peacing out.

 

[Snoopster]

Perhaps he found them unbearable? I do wonder which is worse: telling your family you can't stand them and peacing out or just peacing out.

As a parent he has a legal responsibility to financially support his children. So the 'method' he chose to leave his family not only left them in limbo psychologically but it also enabled him to avoid supporting his children financially (if he succeeded with his plan). Simply selfish. AND illegal since he was avoiding his responsibility to his children if they are under 18.

I wonder how he was planning on supporting himself in his new life?

 

[airportwoman]

Is it cowardice? I have to admit, there's something alluring in letting it all go and staring anew.

I've "started over", although not with a new identity. Believe me when I say that you take yourself everywhere you go.

 

[cujenn81]

Perhaps he found them unbearable? I do wonder which is worse: telling your family you can't stand them and peacing out or just peacing out.

He could have packed up all of his belongings and left them without saying anything at all. He didn’t have to fake his own death to “peace out”.

 

[Eloise]

He could have packed up all of his belongings and left them without saying anything at all. He didn’t have to fake his own death to “peace out”.

This. He could simply have said "we're done here" and moved out. He could have cut contact - its legal to do so, regardless of ethics/morals, so long as he fulfilled legal obligations such as child support, alimony, whatever else was required in his jurisdiction.

Its the going the extra step to fake his own death and run off to a country where he's essential unreachable that's the real sting.

That's awfully cold. For all we know, they weren't relieved. We don't know.

But we do know that kids can have lasting psychological repercussions from more "usual" losses of parental figures, particularly when it's time for them to have their own relationships. Things like divorces, even ones where the kids see both parents regularly; CPS situations where kids are removed from their homes; etc. Even if it resolves a bad situation, the change is still hard on young folks who are in the process of learning how to maintain mature relationships with others and forming their expectations, trust, and boundaries for those relationships.

So, yeah, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that their dad choosing to abandon them out of nowhere, and making them think he was dead to avoid actually talking about his problems with his wife/family/others, might cause some issues for them regardless of what was going on at home.

The kids aren't really young children, so I'm hoping that they'll be resilient with some therapy that reassures them that this is external to them and makes them see that he's the one that's missing out, not them. He's the one who's going to miss out on all their milestones and achievements. It's his problem, and his fault, and his loss, and its not a reflection on them. Only him.

Sometimes people walk away from their family/lives because of severe depression, but I don't see that here.

If he was messaging a "woman" and transferring money into foreign accounts, in my opinion, it was a scam. Then when he landed, either the woman wouldn't show up, or she did, but with the goal of romancing him until she could get her hands on the bank account.

This is all just my speculation, and I hope he's okay. Because when you're being scammed, you kind of an lose touch with reality. And there could have been very dangerous people on the other side of the scam.

What is strange about this case is faking his death. Maybe the life insurance was for his family and was his way of leaving them without having to feel a lot of guilt.

All my opinions only.

Yeah I do wonder a bit just how much police are 100% sure this was actually by choice. I mean, I assume it was all by choice, but if not he could be in serious trouble? Human trafficking and scams do go together. While I think its more likely he's a deadbeat, I just hope police aren't jumping to conclusions and they know he's fine. That said if he is in Uzbekistan it sounds like there's not much they can do for him or about him either way.

You can divorce your partner, but can you legally give up your kids? At the moment I don't even mean the money (I guess you always have to pay), but the visitations and what not? Can you go no contact with your kids if you want to, legally fully give up your parental rights by yourself? Or is the only way to be deemed unfit for parenting (abusing kids or similar)? Similarly, can you legally move abroad if your kids stay in the country?

Of course. He'd have to pay, but of course you can go non contact with your kids - and they can do the same to you. You do not have to be found unfit by a court. You can't abandon your kids literally without legal repercussions, but if someone else is looking after them then you're free. It's why I don't get why he bothered faking his own death. Men go deadbeat and stop seeing their kids all the time, to be frank.

As a parent he has a legal responsibility to financially support his children. So the 'method' he chose to leave his family not only left them in limbo psychologically but it also enabled him to avoid supporting his children financially (if he succeeded with his plan). Simply selfish. AND illegal since he was avoiding his responsibility to his children if they are under 18.

I wonder how he was planning on supporting himself in his new life?

This, its why I assume the choice is about money, not about the seeing the kids or not. He didn't want to pay child support. I guess its definitely better than murder, but then that just means the bar is in hell. JMO.

 

[Bounceycat]

This, its why I assume the choice is about money, not about the seeing the kids or not. He didn't want to pay child support. I guess its definitely better than murder, but then that just means the bar is in hell. JMO.

Honestly, I wonder about this. If he was going to Uzbekistan, he could just duck out on any child support or alimony because they wouldn't be able to collect from him there. I think the life insurance is a big angle.

 

[Snoopster]

Honestly, I wonder about this. If he was going to Uzbekistan, he could just duck out on any child support or alimony because they wouldn't be able to collect from him there. I think the life insurance is a big angle.

But maybe he hoped to come back to the US at some point (perhaps under a different identity) but didn't want anyone looking for him or having his passport flagged. If people thought he was dead then there wouldn't be a BOLO for him would there? Would his name be flagged at the border? Could he still use his passport without people noticing?

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 10, 2024

https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article295337829.html

Podoll reached out to other agencies and groups for help, and they scoured the lake and surrounding area for weeks, calling in cadaver dogs on Aug. 24 on the belief that Borgwardt was dead.

The 45-year-old has a wife and three children, two in high school and one in grade school, the Watertown Daily Times reported.

https://fox59.com/news/national-world/sheriff-urges-wisconsin-kayaker-believed-to-have-faked-disappearance-to-contact-family/

For 54 days, numerous search efforts were conducted to find Borgwardt. In early October, multiple law enforcement groups decided to go in a different direction.

Sheriff Podoll said the family is doing “rather well” right now given the circumstances, although it’s been a very tough couple of months for them. He thanked the Borgwardt family for their help throughout the investigation, adding that he hoped Ryan would give them the answers they seek and that he would seek forgiveness for what they’ve been through.

 

[MyJoey]

JMO……
He didn’t want to look bad to his family or community. I believe he cares about his family and bought the life insurance for their needs. However, he cares more about himself and the new romance. He was working on this plan for months, most likely over a year. Which tells me this other woman has been in the picture longer then the plan. However I do believe this was all a scam on the woman’s part…..who knows who was really on the other end of those emails. I wonder if the idea of faking his death was all his own? Ryan may have faked his death only to walk into a horrible down fall and …..no one would be looking for him.
I say follow the money, they should be about to find where he transferred funds.

 

[vls12345]

I think he's a narcissist who did what he wanted to do and is looking out only for himself. If he left/walked out with his family's knowledge, his wife could have pursued legal action to garnish his wages to provide child support. If that wasn't possible because he left the country, he would/could still be listed as a deadbeat dad and there might have been possible legal action awaiting him should he have decided to return to the US at some point.

He seemingly worked awhile to set up different accounts, acquire an extra passport, plan the kayak "accident", etc. And, his plan might have worked out well except he didn't count on the Sheriff’s office being so diligent that they searched for many weeks, didn't find any evidence that he was in the lake, and were willing to consider other possibilities as to what happened to him.

At this point, he's had a 2 to 3 month head start since he left the country. It will be even harder to track him overseas, even just for the coordination needed amongst various LE in at least a couple of countries, possibly more.

I think he did exactly what he wanted to do, he planned it, thought he was smarter than everyone else, and he was completely ok walking away from literally everything in his life (wife, kids, family, friends, work, pets, home, mementos, etc.)... because he cared little to nothing about the people, animals, or things. He cares only for himself.

Liar. Narcissist.

MOO.

 

[FansBlowing]

He is going to need money to live off of overseas. He doesn't seem like he is rich and he is not getting the life insurance money. Where is his income going to come from now? Maybe he invested in Bitcoin and secretly has a lot of money.