A kayaker who faked his own death to get away from his wife and children has voluntarily returned to the US from Eastern Europe.
Ryan Borgwardt “came back on his own” because of his family, said Mark Podoll, the sheriff of Green Lake County in Wisconsin.
Mr Borgwardt, a married father-of-three, landed on Tuesday and was being held in jail where he was expected to be charged with a number of crimes, including obstruction.
His return has ended a months-long mystery that began after he allegedly flipped his kayak over on Green Lake on Aug 11 to make it look like he had drowned.
According to police, the 45-year-old dumped his phone and personal effects in the water and paddled to safety on an inflatable boat on the lake, which is 65 miles south of Green Bay.
Ryan Borgwardt allegedly flipped his kayak over on Green Lake to make it look like he had drowned
But after a massive search the sheriff became suspicious when the Canadian authorities revealed Borgwardt had crossed the border the day after he was reported missing.
They later discovered he had been speaking with an Uzbek woman who spoke Russian that he had met online, and that he had moved money into a foreign bank account.
During a press conference, Sheriff Podoll said that “we can stand here feeling relieved” as Mr Borgwardt was finally home.
He said that police had been “pulling at the heartstrings” of Mr Borgwardt to get him home.
Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Asked about how Mr Borgwardt’s family, who thought he was dead, are doing, he said: “I can only imagine how they feel.”
The sheriff was not able to say what country Mr Borgwardt had been in and did not comment on the Uzbek woman.
Sheriff Podoll had previously said that Mr Borgwardt began talking with the authorities on Nov 11, by which time he had been missing for three months.
Mr Borgwardt told authorities last month that he faked his death because of personal matters, the sheriff said.
Mr Borgwardt is being held in jail following his return home – Green Lake County Sheriff Office
Police said that Mr Borgwardt told them that in mid-August he travelled about 50 miles from his home in Watertown to Green Lake, where he overturned his kayak, dumped his phone and then paddled an inflatable boat to shore. He said he picked that lake because it is the deepest in Wisconsin.
After leaving the lake, he rode an electric bike about 70 miles through the night to Madison, the sheriff said. From there, he said he took a bus to Detroit, then boarded a bus to Canada and got on a plane.
The sheriff’s office has said the search for Mr Borgwardt’s body, which lasted more than a month, cost at least $35,000.
Borgwardt told authorities that he did not expect the search to last more than two weeks.