GREEN LAKE, Wisc. (Scripps News Green Bay) — The Wisconsin kayaker who faked his own death and then fled to Europe has been released from jail.
A Green Lake correction administrator confirmed Ryan Borgwardt was released on Tuesday after he was sentenced to 89 days in jail in Sept.
FILE – Ryan Borgwardt appears in a Green Lake County courtroom Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Green Lake, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash,File)
Officials said Borgwardt had been granted permission for work release and served his sentence in the Outagamie County jail, closer to his place of employment.
Borgwardt faked his death on Aug. 11, 2024, by flipping his kayak in Green Lake before taking an inflatable raft to shore. He then used various means of transportation to travel to Europe and meet a Ukrainian woman.
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Sheriff’s investigators eventually contacted him via email using information on a laptop he had left behind. They convinced him to return to Wisconsin, largely by pleading with him to do right by his family, The Associated Press reported.
Borgwardt had been sentenced to 89 days in jail, a symbolic number representing the time he was “missing.” He was also required to pay $30,000 for costs related to search efforts.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Green Bay, an E.W. Scripps Company.
