The Man Who Faked His Death for a New Life With His Mistress

In August 2024, 44-year-old Ryan Borgwardt went missing after leaving for a kayaking trip. But this wasn’t a typical missing person case. Borgwardt had faked his own death in order to flee to the country for a woman in Uzbekistan, leaving behind his wife and three children. Please check out Bruce's Legacy! https://www.bruceslegacy.com/ -- This episode is sponsored by: Earnin http://abstorage-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/0gakn4mmlli655pqbge25s1gee21?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D - When you download the EarnIn app type in True Crime with Kendall Rae under PODCAST when you sign up. Rocket Money http://rocketmoney.com/kendallrae Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLkApartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84oSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop https://kendallrae.shop/ Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NK True Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77 Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:04Kendall Rae?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. I hope you guys are all having a great day. Thank you for joining me today, and if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. So, guys, today we are getting into a case that I have been wanting to talk about for months. I wanted to wait until there was enough information to do a full deep dive, and this is actually a case that I had been covering just here and there, little updates on my other podcast, The Sesh, which is very different from this show. It's a little bit unhinged, but in the best way. It's really fun. We talk about a variety of topics. We play games. It's a lot of laughing and more of the lighthearted side of things. I host it with my cousin, so if you're interested in checking it out and getting to know me

• 1:46Kendall Rae?

  on a more personal level, then I will have that linked below. But, yeah, we talked about this case quite a bit, and it blew me away. This guy we're going to be talking about, Ryan Borgwardt. Damn, do I have a lot to say about him and he really pisses me off. Ryan is someone who tried to fake his own death, stage his own disappearance and just abandon his wife and children and leave them to think that he just died. I know this is different than the typical case I cover on this show, but honestly, we've been covering a lot of heavy ones lately and I just needed something a little bit more on the lighter side. And I think you guys probably do as well. I always see that feedback from you that something like this is a little,

• 2:30Kendall Rae?

  you know, refreshing in the true crime space in the weirdest way. Because, I mean, it's still, like I said, infuriating and the lengths that this guy went to, it's just unbelievable. But um, definitely really interesting to see how people tried to stage their own disappearances. And you know, we've talked about similar cases to this in the past and you guys have always really enjoyed learning about them. And I've also had a lot of feedback and opinions. And so I'm really looking forward to reading the comment section on this one. All right, like I said, today, we're going to be discussing Ryan Borgwardt. And honestly, there isn't that much known about him before all of this unfolded. However, we do know that he was living with his wife and three kids in Watertown, Wisconsin. And we also know that he had his own woodworking business.

• 3:15Kendall Rae?

  And of course, as you guys know, I typically like to share as much background on victims as possible, but Ryan is not a victim. In fact, he is far from it. His wife Emily and his three children, they were the true victims in this case. But since this is something that they're still going through personally and has been very traumatic, I don't want to get into a bunch of details about them personally. And just for the sake of their privacy, I think it's just not necessary. And they've expressed not really wanting to be part of the media coverage. What I will say though, is his children are around middle school to high school age, meaning they are old enough to understand what's going on. Which if you ask me, that makes what Ryan did so much worse.

• 3:57Kendall Rae?

  I mean, it's horrible no matter what age a child is when they experience something like this, but you guys know what I mean. So what exactly did Ryan do? Well, it all started on August 11th, 2020. And it was a Sunday and like they normally did, Ryan went to church with his whole family and then later that afternoon or into the evening, really, he was planning on going fishing. Specifically, he was gonna drive an hour north to go fish at Green Lake, which is in Green Lake, Wisconsin. And because Ryan is a very outdoorsy guy, Emily likely didn't think twice about this trip. He was just gonna go kayaking up north, fish for a couple hours, and then come home late that night. However, despite a text that came in from him at 10:45

• 4:42Kendall Rae?

  saying that his plan was to paddle into shore and then drive straight home, Ryan never showed up. Which of course, if your partner doesn't come back home after something like a fishing trip, you're gonna get concerned pretty quickly and she did what any other wife would do, Emily reported him missing. And as soon as she did, there was no hesitation from law enforcement to try and find him. And by 5:32 on the 12th, so the next day, the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office was notified of the missing kayaker and right away, they sent out deputies to go over to the lake and try and locate him. And while they didn't find Ryan, they did find his car and his trailer, leading them to believe that something happened to him out on the lake.

• 5:23Kendall Rae?

  And less than an hour later, they made a shocking discovery out on the water. They ended up finding a capsized kayak in the western part of the lake, which obviously doesn't look good. Now, for some context, Green Lake is actually the second biggest lake in Wisconsin by volume and the deepest natural lake inland in the state. At its deepest point, it reaches a depth of 237 feet. It covers a total of 7,340 acres and it has over 27 miles of shoreline. So clearly, they knew right away what a big undertaking this was gonna be. I mean, it can't be stressed enough how difficult it would be to find a body in that lake, but that's exactly what they tried to do.

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• 7:16Kendall Rae?

  As soon as they found that overturned kayak, there was an all-hands-on-deck effort when it came to looking for Ryan, which included bringing in outside resources like Bruce's Legacy. And I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned Bruce's Legacy on this show before or one of my other shows, but if you haven't heard of them, Bruce's Legacy is a nonprofit that aids in search and recovery operations for drowning victims. They often work closely with law enforcement, and I really can't praise them enough for the incredible work that they do. It was started by Keith Cormican after losing his own brother Bruce to a drowning incident back in 1995. So he has now dedicated his life to helping other people recover their loved ones. And on the morning of Tuesday, August 13th, he and his team were called in to help look for Ryan.

• 7:59Kendall Rae?

  And one of the things that they're able to do is bring in this specialized sonar equipment that scans the bottom of the lake in order to see if there's a body down there. And obviously, like I just explained, this is a huge lake, so they knew that this was going to take a lot of time. But based on where they found the kayak, they figured that his body could Couldn't have gotten much further than the western part of the lake, which, again, is still a huge area to search. So, of course, they got that sonar up and running. And meanwhile, drones were flown above the water and deputies were looking along the shoreline. And they ended up making a pretty big discovery just that morning. Around 9:30 a.m., two fishermen were casting nets along the bottom of the lake, and they ended up pulling up a fishing rod.

• 8:42Kendall Rae?

  And it ended up being a fishing rod that belonged to Ryan. According to his wife, she was able to confirm it was his. And then, later that afternoon, around 3:30, someone called in reporting that they had found a tackle box. And when they opened it, they found several items, which included a wallet, a driver's license, and keys as well, all of which belonged to Ryan. And all of these findings, the tackle box, the fishing rod, the kayak, and the car, ultimately helped confirm the belief that he must have fallen into the water. So for the next 54 days, the efforts to locate the missing 45-year-old father of three continued. And I really can't emphasize enough just how intensive this search actually was.

• 9:27Kendall Rae?

  On August 24th, they ended up bringing in cadaver dogs and dive teams. And the conditions on the water were far from safe. I mean, Green Lake is known for being super mucky, so these divers had essentially zero visibility in the water, which, of course, is just dangerous on its own, not to mention how deep they had to dive in order to search for him. But all these people that were spending their time and putting themselves at risk were happy to do it because it was important to everyone that Ryan's family had that closure. And Keith, with Bruce's legacy, was especially invested in finding his body. And he said he spent somewhere around $10,000 in expenses between repairs and replacing equipment. And he even said that this whole thing was keeping him up at night

• 10:10Kendall Rae?

  because he could not figure out why he was not finding Ryan's body. And Keith is truly a professional at what he does, and he's passionate about what he does. So not finding a body was making him start to question himself and his abilities. He spent 23 days of his life out on that water with sonar equipment and just as many days reviewing that data. Yet, nothing pointed to Ryan being in the water. And the divers were... Pretty much saying the same thing. Even with their expertise, they came up empty-handed time after time. And they were, I mean, everyone was becoming very frustrated. And once they got to that eight-week mark, they were all sort of looking at each other like, is he actually in the water? Maybe he's not even out there.

• 10:54Kendall Rae?

  But of course, it was confusing to them because all of the early evidence was suggesting that he was in that water. But by this point, they just felt like they would have found him if he was. And so, on October 7th, after deciding to take their investigation in sort of a different direction, they made a huge discovery.

• 11:14Speaker 05

  So we continued our search throughout. And it continued through 54 days. I think it was eight weeks. And during that time, it was unbelievable the amount of support that our community gave. My department. It was unbelievable. From food to gift cards for Bruce's Legacy to thank you. And they were proud of us. They were proud that we were not giving up, and we were not. We continued.

• 11:55Speaker 05

  And on October 4th, which was a Friday, I met with Keith from Bruce's Legacy. And he said to me, he said, Sheriff, he says, I've done a lot of searches. And I can't find him. He said, we searched and we searched. And if you see that picture that's on the screen behind me, all the yellow is where Keith searched. That was every spot of that western water of our lake.

• 12:37Speaker 05

  With that being said, he also told me that, Sheriff, don't worry. I'm not giving up. He called the company and was asking for another piece of equipment, a top-notch sonar. And it was a new one, but it's going to be a couple of weeks out.

• 13:01Speaker 05

  So October 7th, I got my crew together. My three detectives, and my chief deputy, and myself. We met and we talked, and we said we gotta go a different direction. And they did. The direction we went was offline, and we found out that his name was Ron on August 13th. Wow, yeah. That was something we didn't expect.

• 13:37Kendall Rae?

  And when he says Ryan's name was Ron on August 13th, he means that one day after he was reported missing, Ryan's passport was used. Yep, you heard that right. A literal day after he was reported missing, his passport was used at the Canadian border. And of course, this turned everything they thought they knew up until this point upside down, because now, they weren't looking for a body. They were looking for a living, breathing, human being who, likely, and I think pretty obviously at this point, faked his disappearance. So, to try and figure out what the hell is going on here, investigators turned to his digital footprint, and they ended up finding some crazy shit, all of which pointed to the fact that Ryan had meticulously planned his disappearance for months.

• 14:21Kendall Rae?

  Here's what a forensic analyst was able to find on Ryan's laptop. They saw that Ryan obtained a second passport, replaced the hard drive on his laptop, cleared his browser history on the day he disappeared, synced his laptop to iCloud on the day that he disappeared, took photos of his original passport, inquired about moving funds to a foreign bank, changed his email address associated with his bank on the day he disappeared, communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan, and I bet you guys can guess this one, he acquired a $375,000 life insurance policy, and purchased an airline gift card. And that second passport was purchased after he reported the original one as "lost" or "stolen." Mind you, investigators ended up finding that other original passport very easily with

• 15:05Kendall Rae?

  the help of his wife Emily, so yeah, the picture is starting to get a lot clearer. Ryan never drowned in that lake. He's completely staged his disappearance. From what they were finding, it looked like he had faked his disappearance, or really his death, in order to be with this woman that he had been communicating with online. The problem, though, is they didn't know where he was. They figured that he was probably somewhere in Europe, but they didn't know exactly where. The FBI and Homeland Security even got involved, so that just tells you how seriously they were taking this. And I'm glad they did, because what Ryan did is just so fucked up on so many levels. Homie was over here doing the absolute most, quite literally, for a woman that he had just met over the internet.

• 15:48Kendall Rae?

  And we don't know what was said between them, actually, but whatever it was, had to have been enough for him to think it was worth giving up quite literally everything. And not only just giving up his wife and kids, but he was willing to let his wife and children think that he died. I mean, to me, that is just... There's no other word for it, other than evil. He and his wife had literally just celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary in July. And, you know, he has gone through the births of all three of his children and raising them. And I don't know the details as far as how involved he was in their life, but it's just, how could you do that to your family, to your wife and to your children,

• 16:31Kendall Rae?

  to let them think and suffer with the images of you drowning? And the mourning and grieving that they would have to do for years? And you're just completely fine with them experiencing all of that? I mean, just think about it. Just picture this. That morning, as I mentioned, Ryan was at church with his children and his wife. He's sitting there, you know, doing whatever you do in church. And meanwhile, he's thinking about what he is planning to do to his own family later that evening. I mean, how do you function like that? Oh my God, liars just blow my mind, especially at this level.

• 17:11Speaker 03

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• 18:18Kendall Rae?

  Now, there has been very little said publicly from their family, and I completely understand why and respect that fully. But we know that they did mourn his loss when they thought that he drowned in the lake. And just imagine what it must have been like for them when they found out that he was alive and had been planning this as far back as January, when he took out that life insurance policy. That alone is seven months of planning that we know of. And I obviously can't speak to how they felt about all this, especially because they haven't spoken themselves publicly. But I think we can reasonably assume that they were, you know, at the very least, hurt, angry, and confused. And again, just as a reminder, all of his children are middle school, high school age, so they fully know what's going on.

• 19:02Kendall Rae?

  And just imagine having to process that type of abandonment at that age. And not that leaving your wife and kids for another woman is ever the right thing to do, but... It definitely would have been a lot easier for them if you had just told them what you were going to do and didn't try to convince them that you died. I guess I just don't understand the point. Like, if this is all about just going and being with someone else, then whatever, go be with someone else. But there's no reason to fake your death and put your family through this type of trauma. And I've covered other cases like this in the past where the motive was very clearly insurance fraud, but that's not really what was going on in this case. I mean, you could definitely make the argument that he attempted to commit insurance fraud,

• 19:46Kendall Rae?

  but he didn't actually benefit from the policy. The money from that policy would have been going to Emily. So it's almost like he got the policy to, I don't know, maybe it made him feel better about leaving them. Maybe in his mind, it was sort of like, oh, I'll be dead and they'll be suffering and in so much pain from that, but at least they'll have $375,000. That's all they were worth to you? You couldn't have made it a higher policy? Like, your family wasn't worth at least a million dollars to you? I mean, no matter how you slice it, this whole thing is 50 shades of fucked up, and investigators felt the same. And they wanted to get answers from the man himself, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of this poor family. So, in a press conference on November 8th, the one I played a clip from earlier,

• 20:30Kendall Rae?

  the sheriff thanked their family and then made a very emotional plea directly to Ryan.

• 20:36Speaker 05

  I'd like to thank the dedication of my sheriff's office. But most of all, I want to thank the family. I want to thank his wife. That is one strong lady.

• 20:49Speaker 05

  Whenever we called on her, she always responded and she gave everything that she could for us. I cannot imagine what she's going through and they're going through.

• 21:04Speaker 05

  It's really hard. Because, one, they felt that their dad was drowned.

• 21:12Speaker 05

  A day ago, they found out that he wasn't. And this is the Ryan.

• 21:18Speaker 05

  Ryan? If you're viewing this,

• 21:23Speaker 05

  I plead

• 21:25Speaker 05

  that you contact us

• 21:29Speaker 05

  or contact your family.

• 21:32Speaker 05

  We understand that things can happen.

• 21:36Speaker 05

  But there's a family that wants their daddy back.

• 21:40Kendall Rae?

  And I just have to say that this sheriff, Mark Podol, is such a genuinely good human being. He led a few press conferences and you can just tell how dedicated he is to serving his community. And that's what makes me so angry is there were so many good people involved in trying to locate Ryan and trying to get this family answers and they were just screwed over by a liar. There were countless resources that were just wasted on Ryan between all the time, energy, not to mention money, that was put into trying to look for him. And Green Lake County is actually going to be seeking somewhere between $35,000 and $40,000 in restitution because that's what they estimate they used up in their efforts. And that doesn't include the $10,000 that he cost Keith.

• 22:24Kendall Rae?

  And this is no surprise considering what a great guy Keith is, but he had a very level-headed and reasonable reaction to all of this. He said that when he first found out that Ryan was alive, he actually just felt relieved, which if I were in his shoes, I'd be just angry. But a lot of it wasn't because Ryan was alive, but it was because he had been second-guessing his capabilities for weeks. He could not figure out why he couldn't find his body. So to find out that he was never in the water, I mean, I get that. I probably would have been relieved too. And then his second reaction was just pure sympathy for Ryan's wife and his children. And I think we all feel that way, especially people who were directly affected by this case or in the community and had been following it closely, worried about Ryan.

• 23:08Kendall Rae?

  The whole thing is just maddening, it's baffling, and it has just been quite a roller coaster for everybody. And then at one point, people were very confused because this video resurfaced, a TikTok actually, from this girl in San Diego who was doing an "Ask Me For Free Advice" video. She was standing out on the boardwalk with a sign and basically people could go up to her and ask her for advice. I mean, I'm sure you've seen something like this.

• 23:32Speaker 06

  Need advice on anything?

• 23:34Speaker 07

  I go to Uzbekistan or stay here?

• 23:37Speaker 06

  Say that one more time.

• 23:39Speaker 07

  Do I go to Uzbekistan or stay here?

• 23:42Speaker 06

  Do you have family there?

• 23:43Speaker 07

  No.

• 23:44Speaker 06

  Why do you want to go?

• 23:45Speaker 07

  To meet a woman.

• 23:46Speaker 06

  To meet a woman? And it was Uzbek?

• 23:50Speaker 07

  Uzbekistan.

• 23:51Speaker 06

  Uzbekistan. You don't like American women?

• 23:57Speaker 07

  No, they're familiar.

• 23:59Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 24:02Speaker 06

  So you've given up on meeting someone here?

• 24:05Speaker 07

  No, I'm married.

• 24:07Speaker 06

  Oh.

• 24:07Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 24:09Speaker 06

  But you, you want to find someone else?

• 24:12Speaker 07

  Empty nest. I'm not sure. That's why I'm asking you.

• 24:16Speaker 06

  Wait, empty nest? What do you mean?

• 24:18Speaker 07

  Empty nest. My kids are out of the house now.

• 24:21Speaker 06

  So you want to find, like, adopt a child?

• 24:24Speaker 07

  No, no.

• 24:27Speaker 07

  I want to find a companion that I'm content with.

• 24:31Speaker 06

  I think that requires you to divorce someone first.

• 24:36Speaker 07

  Well, maybe.

• 24:39Speaker 06

  Or is she okay with that?

• 24:42Speaker 07

  That's a good question. It remains to be seen.

• 24:46Speaker 06

  Have you guys had a conversation about that?

• 24:48Speaker 07

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:50Speaker 06

  So would it be like a throuple or something?

• 24:54Speaker 07

  No.

• 24:57Speaker 06

  Oh, you would, you guys would get a divorce, possibly?

• 25:02Speaker 07

  Possibly, yeah.

• 25:03Speaker 06

  Um, do you just feel like there's no love left between you guys?

• 25:09Speaker 07

  Diminished.

• 25:11Speaker 06

  Diminished?

• 25:13Speaker 06

  Well, I think you guys should definitely have that discussion and see where things are going between you two before you leave the country.

• 25:24Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 25:25Kendall Rae?

  So, as I'm sure you can tell, when this resurfaced, people thought that this guy was Ryan. I mean, I thought it was Ryan when I first saw it. But police did end up confirming that it wasn't him. But yeah, between how he looks and the whole woman in Uzbekistan thing, I can definitely see why people thought it was Ryan.

• 25:48Speaker 04

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• 26:51Kendall Rae?

  But at this time, there was a bigger question looming over everyone's mind, and that was whether or not he broke any laws. Because technically, it's actually not illegal to fake your own death. However, when people have tried to fake their own deaths, I mean, at least the ones who have been caught, most of them end up breaking the law in the process. And in this case, a lot of people believe that Ryan did, in fact, break the law. And there were two charges initially that people thought he might end up facing, and one of them was obstructing an officer, and the other was attempted insurance fraud, obviously. In the state of Wisconsin, it's illegal to, quote, "knowingly give false information to an officer" or "knowingly place physical evidence with the intent to mislead officers"

• 27:35Kendall Rae?

  "in the performance of their duties." Which clearly is word for word what Ry Boy did. And then there's the attempted insurance fraud, which a lot of people think that he did. After all, he did get that life insurance policy knowing that it would be needed under false pretenses. He also got a second passport after he said his first one was lost or stolen, when it wasn't. I'm not sure if that's a crime. Either way, though, he clearly did not execute this legally. So the next big question on everyone's minds is will Ryan be brought back to the United States so that he could potentially face these charges? And basically, even though nobody knew where he was, it was speculated that he was in Uzbekistan, of course, with this other woman. But it turns out that the US doesn't have an extradition treaty with Uzbekistan.

• 28:20Kendall Rae?

  So people were curious if he was just going to get away with it. And it seems like investigators were wondering that, too. Since they didn't know where he was, it was kind of up to Ryan if he wanted to return. And you also have to keep in mind how expensive and time-consuming it would be to execute an international manhunt. So I'm sure they had to sort of weigh out if his crimes were worth that effort and those resources. But of course, they definitely wanted to see him get his ass back to the United States. But instead of taking a more forceful tactic, they decided to try to appeal to his emotions. In a press conference on November 21st, we found out that law enforcement had been in contact with Ryan

• 29:02Kendall Rae?

  and that they were, quote, "pulling at his heartstrings to try to get him to come back home." And finding out through this press conference that they were, in fact, in contact with him was huge. In this press conference, Sheriff Podol explained that on November 11th, they were able to get in contact with Ryan through this, quote, "Russian-speaking woman." They ended up asking him a number of personal questions to confirm his identity, and they also asked him to provide a video of himself to prove that he was safe. And surprisingly, he did it. And the audio is a little muffled, so it's kind of hard to listen to, but take a look.

• 29:36Speaker 08

  Evening, it's Ryan, one more sleep, hold on. And today is November 11th, it's actually 8 a.m. right now.

• 29:56Kendall Rae?

  And I think we can all agree that Rai Rai isn't looking too happy in this video. He actually looks pretty miserable, which is ironic considering he abandoned his whole life to allegedly start some fairy tale with a chick that he met on the internet. But I'm sure the miserable part of it came from knowing that he was caught. And a lot of people questioned if she was real, like maybe he got catfished or something. But investigators did confirm that they were able to find him through her. So, I mean, I personally believe that she is real. And it's pretty crazy, but when they were reviewing the contents of his laptop, they actually found a picture of her and that's how they were able to find him. And apparently, they had been in communication with him every day since November 11th. Which sort of, and I don't know if this is just me, but it kind of makes me think that

• 30:41Kendall Rae?

  maybe he wanted to come home, because he could have just easily ignored them. Like, if he was happy with his choice and he was with his new lady out in Uzbekistan, would he have really kept up that contact with investigators? I don't know. Or maybe it just came out of fear. Maybe he knew the jig was up and they were going to find him anyway and he just kind of gave up. I don't know. There's a lot we still don't know. But there is actually a lot we do know, and this is insane, but he ended up telling investigators exactly how he tried to pull this off.

• 31:13Speaker 05

  And he decided in one of his communications that he was going to tell us how he did that. He stashed an e-bike near the boat launch. He paddled his kayak in a child-sized floating boat out into the lake. He overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the lake. He paddled the inflatable boat to shore and got on his e-bike and rode through the night to Madison. In Madison, he boarded a bus and went to Detroit and then the Canadian border.

• 31:56Speaker 05

  He continued on the bus to an airport and got on a plane.

• 32:02Speaker 05

  We are continuing to verify this information, trying to put the dots together. But we feel that this was Ryan's way that he could tell the entire country how he did it. One of the things that he did say was, he didn't expect us to go more than two weeks in searching for him. Well, I hate to tell you, he picked the wrong sheriff and the wrong department. And one of the reasons why he picked Green Lake was because it was the deepest lake in

• 32:46Speaker 05

  Wisconsin. He did research, he did, and he thought his plan was gonna pan out, but it didn't go the way he had planned. And so now we're trying to give him a different plan as to come home, to come back home.

• 33:05Kendall Rae?

  Now, I'm gonna touch more on all of that here in a bit, but isn't that just wild? Clearly, this dude thought of everything, down to the lake that he was going to do it in. And Ryan also told them that he did this because he had, quote, "personal matters," and thought this was, quote, "best." But a lot of people, including myself, believe that this other woman motivated the whole thing. I mean, in my opinion, it's pretty obvious that that's why he did it. But what was wild to me is he even said, and I don't know how genuine this is, that he felt bad about the amount of time and hours and resources that people spent looking for him, which I'm kinda like, dude, what did you expect? You really thought you were just gonna drown and people were like, oh, too bad?

• 33:50Kendall Rae?

  Like, no, of course, your family is going to wanna recover your body and the community as a whole. What did you think this was going to be like? And it's so weird to think about with how much planning he actually did, that he clearly didn't think a lot of the aftermath through. He just thought of how he was going to do it. But didn't think a lot about the consequences for others. Which shows you he's a real selfish piece of shit, in my opinion. But I do have to give him the smallest little bit of credit for at least coming back. Which he did. He came back completely on his own accord on December 10th, and was immediately booked into the Green Lake County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer. He then appeared in court the following day,

• 34:34Kendall Rae?

  where he told the judge that he would be representing himself. He said that he only had $20 in his wallet and couldn't afford an attorney. And when a judge was like, "You know, you can get one for free", Ryan still said that he was just fine doing it himself. The judge did ask during this hearing that the media not portray this family just out of respect for their privacy, which is definitely the right call. And you would think that they wouldn't give him bail, considering he's a pretty big flight risk, in my opinion. But no, he was actually given a $500 signature bond, which is a type of bail bond that allows a defendant to be released from jail without paying it. It's basically an agreement that the defendant will show up in court, and if they don't, they end up owing the money. And this was also weird to me, but the judge didn't even confiscate his passport.

• 35:20Kendall Rae?

  But at the same time, I don't think Ryan would be going anywhere, considering he was the one who turned himself in. But you never know, considering his past. And in a press conference earlier that day, Sheriff Podle gave a little more insight into Ryan's return, including the fact that he came home voluntarily, and he even gave them a heads up before he arrived. So he has been cooperative to some degree, and I wonder if that was the guilt talking, you know? I mean, who really knows what was going through his mind? But if I had to guess, the guilt really got to him. I feel like you don't plan this elaborate scheme for that long, and then just end up turning yourself in, unless you feel incredibly guilty. What is interesting, though, is he is pleading not guilty to that misdemeanor charge.

• 36:05Kendall Rae?

  So I guess at the end of the day, we don't really know why he came back and told investigators everything. And he really did tell them everything. The criminal complaint was released to the public in mid-December, and it shed a ton of insight into Ryan's plan. And it's insane, you guys. So I want to walk you through it, starting with the morning of August 11th. So once again, we know that Ryan started his day by going to church with his family. I just thought, wow, wow. I mean, I'm pretty sure in the Bible, I'm not a religious person, but I know it actually says that lying is a sin, right?

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• 37:22Speaker 09

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 37:36Speaker 10

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

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  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

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  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 37:58Speaker 09

  So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.

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• 39:23Kendall Rae?

  But anyway, Ryan explained that after church, he went home and he briefly packed up the things that he would need for this fishing trip. But when he left, though, he didn't go right to the lake. He first went to his woodworking shop, where he'd actually been storing an electric bike that he purchased a few weeks prior. And I'm guessing he purchased an electric bike because it would have allowed him to haul ass out of there as quick as possible. He told investigators that he was worried that the cameras would see him loading the bike into his trailer. So he backed it all the way up to the building so that no one could see him loading it in. And then from there, he made a quick stop at Wally World, where he said he intended to get a life jacket. However, that Walmart didn't have any. Now, to clarify, he did already have one life jacket, but he told investigators that he had left it out by the kayak

• 40:08Kendall Rae?

  to make his drowning seem more believable. So the reason he stopped at Walmart was so that he could get a second one that he could use when he paddled back after ditching the kayak out on the lake. But anyway, after going to Walmart, Ryan stated that he then went to a friend's house. He said that he knew this friend wasn't going to be home, and he went over there to load up on stove pellets. And before you ask, I have no idea why this man needed the stove pellets. No clue on that one. But then he left his friend's house, and that's when he finally made his way to Green Lake, arriving sometime around 10:00 PM. Ryan told them that he was kind of freaked out when he got there because there was a squad car in the area, but they eventually moved, and he continued on with his stupid little plan.

• 40:52Kendall Rae?

  And as you heard the sheriff explain earlier, he then paddled out to what he thought was the deepest part of the lake and tossed his phone in the water, which made sense considering that his phone last pinged around midnight, and it looked like it was in the lake. He then began inflating a child-sized raft, which he got into. Flipped his kayak, dumped the fishing rod and tackle box, and then paddled that little raft back to shore. And after he got to shore, Ryan explained that he ended up getting about hip-deep in the muck, which made it difficult to get out of the water. What he didn't think about, though, is now he's going to have a muddy trail of footprints right behind him coming out of the lake. He actually told investigators that he was worried that they would be able to follow his footprints,

• 41:35Kendall Rae?

  so he did his best to wash them off the road. And this is where it gets even crazier. Ryan then proceeded to ride his e-bike 70 miles through the night to Madison, Wisconsin. He even brought an extra battery with him in case the bike died, which it did, actually. And at one point, he said that he got cold and changed his clothes. And this is so messed up, but I guess around 5:00 a.m., Ryan had this moment of, I don't know if it was guilt or sadness, or if he was worried, because 5:00 a.m. is the time that his wife typically wakes up in the morning. So I don't know if he was, in that moment, thinking about what she was about to experience and what she would be experiencing in the weeks and months to come, and just felt bad or guilty or what.

• 42:19Kendall Rae?

  But he told investigators that this was the first moment where he really realized that there was no going back. So he ditched the bike, his clothing, and the raft at a park about 45 minutes away from a Greyhound bus station. And then he took that bus from Milwaukee to Detroit, and then Detroit to the Canadian border, in an effort to get to the Toronto airport. And apparently, getting through customs was harder than he thought it was going to be. Ryan told investigators that he thought having his passport would be enough, but I guess they also wanted to see his driver's license, which he didn't have, so they pulled him aside to question him privately. And he explained to investigators that he was super nervous while this is taking place. I'm sure he was just shitting bricks, man, because his whole plan hinged on this, but...

• 43:03Kendall Rae?

  Lucky for him, they ended up letting him through. So he managed to get to the airport where he purchased a one-way ticket to Paris. And then from Paris, he got another plane to the country of Georgia, which is at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. And after landing there, he sent an email to this woman. And she picked him up about an hour later, and the two of them went to a hotel. Ryan also shared that he took $5,500 in cash with him. And by the time he arrived, he fully believed his plan had worked, baby. He was home free. And this was a plan that he said took a lot of research and meticulous planning. Listen to this. According to the criminal complaint, Ryan made comments that he had spent a great deal of time researching how to disappear. I asked Ryan what all he researched.

• 43:46Kendall Rae?

  Ryan stated that he researched other individuals that had successfully disappeared recently. Ryan stated there was an individual that disappeared for approximately six years. He researched lake deaths and researched how deep a body has to be without resurfacing. Ryan researched a lot of other things in regard to his disappearance as well, such as travel, how to take money over to another country, and different ways he could leave the country with leaving as minimum number of clues as possible. Ryan stated, quote, "Everything hinged on me dying in the lake." Ryan also stated that, quote, "The whole idea was to sell the death." The dude even looked up weather patterns to try and figure out what night was going to be best for his 70-mile bike ride.

• 44:28Kendall Rae?

  And he also used a VPN when clicking on any articles about his own drowning, because he wanted to make it look like he was viewing them from Russia. And that was only in cases where he actually clicked on articles, because he explained that he rarely actually clicked on them. It was mostly just reading the headlines. I think he was too nervous to actually look at them, or maybe he felt too guilty to read all the details of what everyone back at home was trying to do to locate him. And again, this is just all my best guess, but maybe he even thought that he would have to read quotes and interviews with his family members, and that it would just tear him apart inside if he had to face that. But one thing he definitely didn't account for

• 45:11Kendall Rae?

  is that investigators were not going to just give up and believe that he drowned in the lake. Or if they figured out he didn't drown, they weren't going to be like, "Well, guess he's gone." Whatever. And I mentioned this earlier, but Ryan truly didn't think that people are going to look for him as long as they did. He said that he didn't even know that something like Bruce's legacy existed, which threw a pretty big wrench in his plan. And another thing he really messed up on was leaving his laptop behind, which he basically explained that he had to do it to really sell his death. But he thought he had wiped it clean. They always do, right? But when he was backing things up to iCloud, I guess he was using too much data and somehow an image of the other woman was found. Whoopsie.

• 45:56Kendall Rae?

  And like I explained before, they were able to track this woman down and then use her to track him down. November 8th is when they first reached out to him and Ryan later told them that as soon as that email came in, his heart hit the floor. To be honest, though, he said that he figured they would eventually learn the truth, but his goal was to delay that as long as possible. So what is next for Mr. Ryan Borgwardt? Is justice going to be served? Well, with his obstructing charge, Ryan is facing a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine, nine months in jail, or both. Which to me just seems like nothing compared to what he did and what he put so many people through. Even if he gets both of those, to me, that is not nearly enough.

• 46:39Kendall Rae?

  And there's a chance he may even get just one, or maybe nothing. Although I will say I don't think that's gonna be how things shake out. I think the public will freak out if he doesn't get the maximum punishment here. He also might have to pay restitution to the county of Green Lake, but right now, that hasn't been ruled on. And as for Keith with Bruce's legacy, he said that he's not gonna be seeking restitution because he doesn't want to burden Ryan's family more than they already have been. And I really respect him for that. I think that's very gracious considering what they're going through, but also with what he has been through, to just kind of let it go for their sake is very honorable. I'm really impressed with Keith at Bruce's legacy and I think the work that he is doing is spectacular.

• 47:24Kendall Rae?

  So my foundation, Higher Hope, is gonna be reaching out to him. We're in the process of already reaching out to him to get him. An empower grant, which is our grant for nonprofits like his. And if you're interested in contributing to his nonprofit, I will leave a link so you can check it out, learn about it more, and maybe make a donation yourself. So shortly after Ryan returned to the States, Emily filed for separation, saying that their marriage was irretrievably broken. And she's also seeking full custody of the kids. And I'm so glad that she's moving forward with that. And we don't have much else on that front, but I don't see why she wouldn't be awarded that. I'm sure that'll be a pretty slam dunk situation for her.

• 48:04Kendall Rae?

  I think we can all agree that Ryan is a selfish loser, piece of shit. What else can I come up with? I mean, and this is my opinion, maybe everyone won't agree with me, but I think, maybe this is harsh, I don't know. But I think doing this to your family is evil. I think this is evil territory, evil behavior. I don't know if he's an evil person, but what he did is evil, in my opinion. He put his family through the most unimaginable trauma. I mean, that is not something that any normal, loving parent would ever imagine doing to their family. And I don't see any reason why he should ever have access to his kids again, unless they make the choice to reconnect with him on their own later down the road or whatever.

• 48:48Kendall Rae?

  But right now, they, I fully do not think he should have any type of custody or communication contact with the kids, although, you know, at the end of the day, it is their family's decision. But I think we can all agree, he certainly shouldn't have any parental rights. And I was curious to know if he tried to make contact with any of them before he came back to the States, but right now, that information isn't being released, so I have no idea where he's at when it comes to his relationship with the kids. And there was supposed to be a status hearing on January 13th, but I couldn't find any information on it, so I don't know what happened there. I'm not sure if it was postponed, or if it just hadn't been reported on, but there's been sort of a lull in the case since mid-December.

• 49:30Kendall Rae?

  I did see that there is a hearing scheduled at this point for sometime in April, so hopefully we'll get some more answers then. And one thing that I really want to know is why he changed. Chose to come back. And as I explained earlier, I really do think it was just guilt. But I wonder if this new life he thought he was getting wasn't what he actually pictured. We don't know much about this other woman, but I would love to know what they were talking about. Maybe she was promising him something that she couldn't deliver on. Maybe he was promising her something he couldn't deliver on. Maybe there was no chemistry. Maybe there was catfishing going on lies. Who knows? I mean, I've seen a lot of 90 Day Fiance and all of that. So I'm just curious what ended up shaking out.

• 50:13Kendall Rae?

  Maybe he got there and she was like, ew, no, I don't know. I'd be very interested to see how that ended up playing out when he got there. And that's information we may never know. And there was even a moment where law enforcement expressed that they were worried for her well being, as in the woman in Uzbekistan. But I feel like we would have heard about it if he had done something to her. And I hope that's not the case, but I doubt it. I mean, what do I know about this man? And he's certainly someone that you really can't take on face value. But he doesn't really seem like a dangerous person in that way. You know what I mean? So I guess if there's one silver lining to this case in any way, it's that as far as we know, no one got hurt, physically speaking, that is.

• 50:56Kendall Rae?

  But for the most part, that's really all we know at this point when it comes to Ryan's case. And I am, like I said in the beginning of this episode, I am so curious to hear your thoughts on it, especially when it comes to what you all think would be an appropriate punishment for Ryan. Because I know my audience, and I know you guys are going to think what is on the table is not nearly enough. Or maybe you do. Maybe you think it wasn't that bad and that, you know, it should be a little slap on the wrist. So let me know your thoughts below. I'm definitely curious to hear your thoughts on this entire case. I do find it so interesting and strange that he coughed up his whole plan and then just pleaded not guilty. Like, what was the thought process behind that? I don't know. It almost makes me wonder if he's gonna go with an insanity defense

• 51:39Kendall Rae?

  or something along those lines, but who knows? I guess time will tell. But in closing, as goofy and stupid and just ridiculous this entire case is, there was a lot of pain felt and experienced by his family, his wife and his three children and probably extended family as well. I mean, I'm sure. And the community as a whole, not to mention Keith and the Bruce's legacy team. So many people suffered throughout this entire experience, but no one more than his wife and his children. I just cannot imagine what this would have been like. And I don't know if they'll ever watch this coverage, but my heart truly goes out to them. It's so messed up.

• 52:22Kendall Rae?

  That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.

• 52:50Speaker 13

  She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.

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