Missing Father of 3 Faked His Disappearance in Kayak Accident and Fled to Europe: Police

Ryan Borgwardt was reported missing in Wisconsin on Aug. 12, but authorities now think he’s in Europe following a 54-day-long search

• Missing father of three, Ryan Borgwardt, is thought to have fled to Europe after staging a kayaking accident, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said in a press conference

• Authorities found multiple items belonging to Borgwardt in Green Lake, Wisc. after he was first reported missing on Aug. 12

• “Ryan, if you are viewing this, I plead that you contact us or contact your family,” the sheriff said on Friday, Nov. 8

Authorities believe a missing kayaker and father of three faked his disappearance in a Wisconsin lake before fleeing the United States.

On Friday, Nov. 8, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll provided an update following a 54-day search for Ryan Borgwardt, per a press conference shared by local TV station WFRV Local 5.

Podoll explained that on Aug. 12 at around 5:32 p.m. local time, deputies had responded to a missing persons call. Borgwardt’s vehicle and trailer were later found parked in the area of Dodge Memorial Park, and the man’s last known location was Green Lake.

Around an hour after the alarm was first raised, authorities then found a capsized kayak in the western part of the lake in an area where the water is around 220 feet deep, the sheriff stated in the conference.

The following day, fishermen found Borgwardt’s fishing rod in the same lake, before his tackle box was also discovered. Inside, the box contained a wallet, keys and a license belonging to Borgwardt — who last had contact with his wife on Aug. 11.

Per WBAY, the Kansas City Star and the Watertown Daily Times, Borgwardt is a father of three.

During the conference, the sheriff explained that on Aug. 24, a team of experienced divers and search dogs were brought in to help search for Borgwardt. On Oct. 4, he also met with members of the volunteer search-and-recovery organization, Bruce’s Legacy, who ran a 28-day search for the missing man.

On Oct. 7, Podoll explained how he met with his team and they decided the search had to “go a different direction” after they discovered that Borgwardt’s name had been checked by Canadian law enforcement on Aug. 13, the day after he was reported missing, per WBAY.

“That was something we didn’t expect,” the sheriff said in the conference, adding that they ended up analyzing a laptop that the missing man’s wife had given them.

Investigators then delved further and discovered that Borgwardt had reported his passport missing and obtained a replacement on May 22, per WBAY.

Authorities now believe that Borgwardt is “someplace in Europe,” with Podoll saying officers discovered he had replaced his computer hard drive and cleared its browser on the day of his disappearance.

Borgwardt also took photos of his passport, moved funds to a foreign bank, changed his email and communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan ahead of his vanishing, Podoll continued, telling reporters he’d taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January, as well as purchasing airline cards.

“Due to these discoveries of the new evidence, we were sure that Ryan was not in our lake,” Podoll insisted, thanking everyone that helped in the search.

“I want to thank the family, I want to thank his wife. That is one strong lady,” the sheriff said in the conference. “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.”

“They thought that their dad was drowned. A day ago, they found out that he wasn’t,” he added of Borgwardt’s children.

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The sheriff then told the missing man, “Ryan, if you are viewing this, I plead that you contact us or contact your family. We understand that things can happen, but there’s a family that wants their daddy back.”

Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.