Distraught text messages between a Wisconsin father of three — who staged his death during a kayaking trip to run off with his European fling — and his wife of 22 years reveal her desperate pleas after he vanished in the middle of the night.
Ryan Borgwardt texted his then-wife, Emily, that he loved her and that he “snuck out” of their house to watch the Northern Lights as he implemented his plan to abandon his family on Aug. 11, 2024, according to messages released by the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Emily, Borgwardt’s wife of 22 years, lashed out at her husband for spending “so many nights” away from their family and for not informing her that he was leaving.
“Nothing new. I should be used to it by now. So many nights I have no idea where you are when it’s late,” Emily messaged Borgwardt.
The fleeing father responded that he’d “work on communication” and described what the northern lights looked like.
“I love you…. goodnight… I’ll be heading back to shore soon,” Borgwardt’s final text to his wife, sent at 10:49 p.m., said.
She replied that she loved him too and told him to be safe before heading to bed.
However, when Emily awoke the following morning and her husband hadn’t returned home, she frantically texted him, hoping to get an answer.
“Where are you????” and “Babe?” the concerned mother of three texted Borgwardt at 5:12 a.m. on Aug. 12, only to be met with silence.
Emily reported Borgwardt missing later that day, following her husband’s kayaking trip at Green Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee — unaware that he had orchestrated a plan to abandon her and his children.
Police eventually found an overturned kayak and a lifejacket that belonged to the missing father, leading investigators to suspect that Borgwardt had drowned.
Still, the search for Borgwardt’s body went on for eight weeks after his disappearance — costing more than $50,000 — and resulted in the local community spending countless hours and resources trying to find him.
After 54 days of searching, investigators discovered Borgwardt had been chatting with a Uzbekistani woman online and had faked his own death to be with her.
Canadian authorities flagged Borgwardt’s name on the day he was reported missing, according to police.
He had also opened a new bank account, sought to move money overseas, wiped his computer, and taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy just months earlier.
Borgwardt rode an electric bike 70 miles overnight to Madison after staging his own death.
He then took a bus from Detroit and crossed into Canada, where he flew out of Toronto to Paris before he eventually reached the European country of Georgia to meet up with his fling.
Investigators eventually tracked down Borgwardt in November 2024 and convinced him to return to the US the next month, where he surrendered and was charged with obstructing the search for his body.
Borgwardt told investigators that his decision to start a new life “came down to the feeling of failure in about every aspect of your life.”
“Hoping to be remembered for the better things, not all the mistakes that you have. And if you don’t have maybe the best communication relationship with your wife,” he said during his interrogation upon returning to the US, FOX6 News reported.
The father of three told detectives that he loves his kids but feels hurt and distant because they show little interest in sharing activities or hobbies together.
“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,” he said.
“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 and then the friend thing ends up turning you into more, but you didn’t really play that and it wasn’t your intention.”
Emily filed for divorce four months after Borgwardt returned home — telling the court their marriage was “irretrievably broken.”
Last month, Borgwardt was sentenced to 89 days in county jail after pleading no contest to obstructing an officer — the same number of days authorities spent searching for him. He also paid $30,000 in restitution.
Borgwardt said he “deeply” regretted his actions and the “pain I caused my family and friends,” as he addressed the court before his sentencing.
with Post wires
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