GREEN LAKE, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning this summer so he could abandon his wife and three children has been communicating with authorities daily from Eastern Europe, even telling them how he did it, but has not committed to returning home, a sheriff said Thursday. Ryan Borgwardt has been talking with authorities since Nov. 11 after disappearing for three months, Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said at a news conference. The sheriff showed a video that Borgwardt sent the sheriff’s office that day. “The great news is we know that he is alive and well,” Podoll said. “The bad news is we don’t know where Ryan exactly is, and he has not yet decided to return home.” Borgwardt, wearing an orange T-shirt and not smiling, looked directly into the camera in the video, which appears to have been taken on his phone. Borgwardt said he was in his apartment and briefly panned the camera but mostly showed just a door and bare walls. “I’m safe and secure, no problem,” Borgwardt said. “I hope this works.” Borgwardt told authorities he fled because of “personal matters,” the sheriff said. Podoll did not elaborate. “He was just going to try and make things better in his mind, and this was the way it was going to be,” Podoll said. Borgwardt told authorities he traveled about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from his home in Watertown to Green Lake, where he overturned his kayak, dumped his phone in the lake and then paddled an inflatable boat to shore. He told authorities he picked that lake because it’s the deepest in Wisconsin at 237 feet (over 72 meters). After leaving the lake, he rode an electric bike about 70 miles (110 kilometers) through the night to Madison, the sheriff said. From there, he took a bus to Detroit, then boarded a bus to Canada and got on a plane there, the sheriff said. Police were still verifying Borgwardt’s description of what happened, Podoll said. The sheriff suggested Borgwardt could be charged with obstructing the investigation into his disappearance, but so far no counts have been filed. Whether Borgwardt returns will be up to his “free will,” Podoll said. Borgwardt’s biggest concern about returning is how the community will react, Podoll said. “He thought his plan was going to pan out, but it didn’t go the way he had planned,” the sheriff said. “And so now we’re trying to give him a different plan to come back.” The sheriff said authorities “keep pulling at his heartstrings” to return home. “Christmas is coming,” Podoll said. “And what better gift could your kids get than to be there for Christmas?”
