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

Officials in Wisconsin believe a kayaker who went missing over the summer and was presumed dead is alive and living in Europe.

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

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

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

After searching the lake for weeks in vain, officials said they determined he had a second passport, had questions about transferring money to foreign banks, had purchased airline gift cards, had taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy and was communicating with a woman in Uzbekistan leading them to believe he had staged his disappearance.

Sheriff: Missing kayaker pretends to be missing

According to the sheriff’s office, Borgwardt, a married father of two, replaced his laptop’s hard drive and wiped its browsers the day he disappeared, August 12.

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

The news was also difficult for search groups, such as Bruce’s Legacy, to hear. The group is a non-profit organization founded by Keith Cormican and specializing in water research.

“It’s a little hard to swallow because there’s a lot of cost involved,” Cormican said.

He said the speculation started early in the search.

“I have never searched this much, this area so thoroughly, and found nothing,” Cormican said.

Cormican spent 23 days on the water, almost half of which time Borgwardt was missing. He was there when the Borgwardt family heard about the new developments.

“They were very shocked, as you can imagine, so heartbreaking for the family,” Cormican said.

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

This story was originally published by Mike Beiermeister on Scripps News Milwaukee.