Wisconsin man explains why he faked his death in newly-released interrogation video

WI man fakes his death, explains to deputies why he did it

Newly released video shows Ryan Borgwardt explaining to deputies why he faked his death and fled to Europe. FOX 9's Leon Purvis has the latest on what new evidence police have released.

WISCONSIN (FOX 9) - Newly-released video shows Ryan Borgwardt, the Wisconsin man who faked his own death last year and fled to Europe, explaining to deputies why he devised the elaborate plan.

READ MORE: Wisconsin kayaker who faked death, fled to Europe sentenced to jail time

Ryan Borgwardt's interrogation 

Big picture view:

Ryan Borgwardt told deputies he felt like a failure in every aspect of life.

"So I guess everything kind of hinged on me dying in the lake," said Borgwardt to Green Lake County Sheriff's Deputies.

The case documents also showed the text message exchange between him and his now ex-wife before dumping his phone. He writes, "I’ll start heading back to shore soon." Then "I will." With three dots. She then sent multiple messages, but got no response from Borgwardt.

"I think just the inability to feel like you can talk to your wife about some of this stuff, and maybe that complete hopelessness that you have in the situation that you're in," said Borgward.

Borgwardt faking his own death

The backstory:

In August 2024, Borgwardt paddled his kayak and a child-sized inflatable boat out into the lake. Then he overturned the kayak and dumped his phone into the lake.

"If your goal is to disappear, then you would do everything in your power to try to disappear," said Borgwardt.

Investigators say after taking the inflatable boat back to shore, he rode an electric bike to Madison, Wisconsin, and caught a bus to Toronto before flying to Europe. Authorities searched for him for 58 days.

"If you come to the lake and ten minutes later you realize I'm not there, then you're not going to look for me, you're going to go look elsewhere, and then it's going to be a real short trip to Georgia," said Borgwardt.

Fleeing to the country of Georgia

What they're saying:

Borgwardt ended up in the eastern European country of Georgia with a woman he met online.

"And you end up meeting a friend somewhere on the other side of the world that sort of has a somewhat similar story, and then you just end up becoming friends," said Borgwardt.

Authorities tracked him down last November and convinced him to come home a month later.

"I knew at some point it was probably going to be found. So, I guess I was doing every effort to limit how much and when," said Borgwardt.

Sentencing:

Borgwardt pleaded no contest to obstructing an office and was sentenced to 89 days in jail.

It’s the same amount of time he misled authorities about his whereabouts.

He also was ordered to pay $30,000, the cost of the search.