11 Wild New Details in Cheating Husband's Plot to Fake His Death

If your goal is to disappear, then you. would do everything in your power to try. to disappear. So, I guess everything. kind of hinged on me dying in the lake. The whole idea was to sell the death. >> He faked his death, staged a drowning, and vanished overseas. Now, newly. released police interview footage is. revealing, in his own words, why Ryan. Borg tried to disappear and leave. everything behind. And we are going to. break it all down for you right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Wisconsin father Ryan Borgwart, who. faked his own death, vanished overseas, and left his whole family and community. believing he was gone forever, has. already faced justice in court. We've. talked about that here on Sidebar. But. now, for the very first time, for such a. confusing and odd case, we are getting. to hear in his own words why he did. this, why he attempted to pull off this. elaborate plan. We have new interview. footage that was obtained by law and. crime and it is giving us an in-depth.

look into this guy's plan, his. execution, his regrets, and most. importantly the apparent reason why he. chose to disappear and leave his entire. life and family behind. We are going to. take you through this through this. interview step by step. But first, let's. quickly recap how we got here if you're. not familiar with the story. So, we go. back to August 11th, 2024. The. 45-year-old told his family that he was. heading out on Green Lake for a routine. fishing trip. But hours later, deputies. found his kayak overturned along with.

his tackle box, fishing rod, driver's. license, phone. It looked like a. drowning. And for nearly two months, dive teams, deputies, volunteers, they. searched tirelessly, believing that they. were recovering a body. In reality, Ryan. Borgwart, he wasn't dead, but he was. already gone. Investigators later. discovered that his passport had been. scanned at the Canadian border and a. forensic search of his laptop revealed. an elaborate escape plan. He had. replaced the hard drive, cleared his.

browser history, moved money into a. foreign bank account, and took out a. 375,000. life insurance policy, and purchased. airline tickets. Authorities, they. eventually tracked down a woman that. Borg wart had been communicating with. overseas, and through her they made. contact with him directly. Soon after, he confirmed he was alive in a proof of. life video that was recorded in the. country of Georgia, where he had. apparently rented an apartment and had. begun a new life. According to.

investigators, Borgwart had stashed an. electric bike near the boat launch, overturned his kayak to stage the. drowning, then rode through the night. before boarding buses and planes that. eventually took him across the Atlantic. And after weeks of back and forth with. law enforcement, Borg wart agreed to. return to Wisconsin. He was charged with. obstruction, right? Obviously, they're. dedicating all these resources to a fake. incident. He was charged with. obstruction and he entered a not-uilty. plea and despite all the money that he. had once apparently set aside to.

disappear, he told the court he couldn't. afford a lawyer, that he would represent. himself. In the end, ultimately, Borgart. pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor. charge, was sentenced last month to 89. days in jail. But now, we have something. new. We are getting a closer look at the. investigation from the very beginning, including never-before- heard calls and. body cam video. And this all starts with. the moment that deputies first learned. that something was very wrong when his. wife reported him missing after this. late night kayak trip on Green Lake.

>> Green Lake County Sheriff's Office. Hi, good morning. It's Dodge. Have you had. any contact with a Ryan Borg wart? I can. smell that for you if you'd like. Um, yeah. This B O R B O R G W A R DT. B O R G and R Y A N for the first. >> Yes, we do not have them on our in-house. records at all.

>> Okay. We have a spouse on the line and. um he lives down closer to Watertown, Exonia. He went. to Quimby Bay. Um he was on a kayak. >> Oh. >> And she woke up and he's not home and. she can't get a hold of him. >> Oh dear. >> Um yeah, he is driving a. Dodge.

Caravan. It's gray with a gray trailer. >> Okay. Um, when did she last hear from. him? >> The last contact, she said last night. She last spoke with him at 10:45 last. evening and he was headed back to shore. And she doesn't think he would have, you. know, slept anywhere else for the night. or anything like that.

No, that's not what she's saying at all. She said he doesn't know anybody up. there. >> Okay. >> Kayak is darker. camel brown. Okay. Yeah, I can have deputies head over. there and and check that out. Um, see if.

we can locate the vehicle or I'm. assuming he would have parked there then. as well. Do you think. >> I would imagine somewhere in that area? Yep. He went fishing on the green lake. So, um Oh, buyer's Cove Public Boat Landing. is. >> would be where he would have parked. >> Yeah, I see Quimby Pay right over there. That's a pretty popular. spot in the summers. Um, yeah, I will talk to my deputies and.

have them start over that way to check. it out. >> Now, you know, we've been on top of the. story from the very, very beginning. And. you know why we're able to do that? Because of our sponsor, Morgan and. Morgan, America's largest injury law. firm, a firm with over a thousand. attorneys. You know why they're so big? Because they win a lot. They have. recovered over $25 billion for more than. 500,000 clients. Think about that. In. the past few months, a client in Florida. received $12 million after the insurance. company offered just $350,000. Out in.

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scanning the QR code on screen. And from there, the search was on. Deputies, they quickly located his. vehicle near the water. And their body. camera videos, those captured the. urgency as they called in detectives. They prepared to launch drones over the. lake. It is unoccupied. So stand by. I talking. to the wife. He forgot an ore. So he was. out on big green paddling with a net. So. he very well could be out there. Yeah. I'm going use my bino. See what I can.

find now. [Music]. [Music]. 5248. You want me to head that way as. well then with you? [Music]. >> Yeah. Just get the keys from the office. Don't worry. I got you.

[Music]. 71 Green Lake. >> Go ahead. Have a case number for that. Please. close me out right away.

71 for what? 55 and 48. >> Looking for. >> Stephanie Wallace. >> Hey, you know where I'm talking? That. he's parked. >> Yeah. By the like where people would. want to go duck on the south side. Yeah,

but I guess you can walk a kayak across. and put it in. >> Yeah. >> So there it it's frosted up, so it's. been here. The car hasn't moved, >> but I don't The way he's parked, it's. like he's fishing the southside. Um, so this is my saw. Um, I'm thinking. call the drone team out, have them come. to dodge and they can freaking.

run the drone on the south side and. around the corners and that to see if. he's out there. >> Correct. >> Um, >> I say we Who do we got on for. detectives? You're in your car. >> Yeah. Let's see. Detective. um August. 12th is Hansen and Ward. >> I'm calling both of them right now. See.

if they're willing to come fly right. now. >> All right. I will get a hold of somebody. and we'll get it rolling. >> All right. I'm going to keep looking on. my vinyls here. I guess I was I was going to open the. car. She didn't even know he was. He. went to Dale fishing or to get wood. pellets and all of a sudden he came home. or she texted him. That car is locked. No, anything. And he just said, "Hey, I'm going fishing.

>> I'll uh I'll jump on the boat. Let's see. if we can find him somewhere." Um and go. from there, I guess. >> All right. Yeah, that'll work. All right, sounds good. >> Of course, we now know that Borg wart. wasn't in the lake at all. And what do. we have right now? We got to get to. this. The police interview. So, in a. police interview after he comes back. after his arrest, he explains in detail.

how he staged the scene and why he spent. months preparing to vanish. >> One of the things that I think we're. definitely interested in is why you did. what you did. Now, I'm not saying. necessarily. why you decided to do this act at this. point. What I'm more interested in is. why. um why you took the things that you took. with you, why you did what you did with. the phone, if there's anything specific. there um as to the wise. You know, one.

of the things that you mentioned too, and I should probably stop firing so. many at you at once, but um one of the. things you mentioned was the u. your Canada to Adelier, you know, talk me through some of that. planning and uh some of the things that. you did. and why you took the. the I mean, it'll probably all get me in. trouble by saying everything.

But. >> I mean as a. >> I guess I guess I mean if your goal is. to disappear then you would do. everything in your power to try to. disappear. No. I mean, if you if the the whole it's. virtually the amount of hours that I. spent trying to disappear would blow. your mind.

last year. Um, the things that you have. to do now in 2024 to make that possible, it's almost impossible. I knew there would be cameras that I. would be in front of. I knew there would. be a situation where you you have to. flash your passport. you I mean you're. you're attempting to do this without. breaking the law anyway, right? I mean, so as as soon as you do a. fraudulent I mean if I have a fake. passport made or other things like that. that could occur, then you're obviously. definitely breaking the law and you're.

definitely getting yourself in trouble. So I wasn't like talking to some Joe on. the street to get something made or. you're doing everything as legally as. you can to not get in trouble as much as. possible. Um, so I guess everything kind. of hinged on me dying in the lake. If. you if if you come to the lake and 10. minutes later you realize I'm not there, then you're not going to look for me. You're going to look elsewhere and then. it's going to be a real short. trip to Georgia.

>> So I mean essentially it was in an. effort to create as much. of a layer of secrecy as possible. Is. that fair to say? guy. >> Yeah, obviously obviously the whole idea. was to the whole idea was to sell the. duck. >> He even walked investigators through the. night that he pulled it off from. overturning his kayak to slogging. through the mud with an inflatable raft. before biking away under the cover of. darkness. >> And then at some point I decided to do.

it. So tossed the phone further to the. north from where he was. um inflated the boat, hopped in the boat. Took a while to get. it trusted and situated, flipped over the kayak. I was still getting situated and. adjusted. The kayak was out of sight. And then another boat came off the water. and S Creek again that that boat was. going to see the flipped over the kayak, but they never did. So, um.

probably somewhere in the 12 to 1. category maybe. for time. Um maybe 11:00. Um. after that point, I started the row. Um. the row was fighting the wind and the. waves were kind of hard and if I would. show you a picture of that raft, you'd. laugh. So.

I countless times I said, "Why am I. doing this? But I kept going. Um, had to take a lot of breaks cuz I was. just physically besides mentally. exhausting, besides only having cereal. for a meal that day and nothing else the. whole rest of that day for food or water. to I guess I did have water later in the. afternoon. But um I just kind of kept going and.

going and. finally got to shore. Have no idea how. long it took, but it took forever in my. head. Um. I thought I saw some lights on the. street, so I thought I had a good idea. where I was. Um took that first step out. of the boat and I was like, "Yes, I rock. and great." took the second step out and. I went all the way down into the muck. into my waist. and then the next step all the way down. in my waist and the next step all the. way down to my waist and if the first.

part wasn't tearing the second part was. awful. And then I was carrying the the. inflatable which had a duffel bag on in. it. I don't if you ever been in that. mess over there, but I don't know 8 to. 10 foot cattails and muck muck muck. So, it's kind of awful. I was kind of sliding the inner tube. across that as I was walking through. that. Finally got through. Um, and then.

I was like, well, now I'm all muddy and. I mean, I'm just from here to there. So, like I decided to run across the highway. quick, hop in the water. I basically. took a bathroom here down by all the uh. then I came back across the came across. across the highway and I saw like like I. mean from what I could see in the. moonlight it was just like I forgot if. there was moonlight or not but to me I. could still see pretty clearly that. night I saw all these funny footprints. right across the county road that's like.

that's a problem. So, I uh. quickly went over back to the fresh. water and I tried to start like showing. throwing water onto the mud footprints. cuz I'm like I mean you you see the cars. here and the footprints aren't that far. away. I thought for sure you're going to. see this. Um I maybe got two footprints. out but it was taking forever and I'm. like this this is impossible. I just got. to chance it and go with it. So. I finally decided to just leave what it.

was. Got the bike. I had way too many. I. had three bags. It's way overweighted for. um that bike, right? I had never started. the bike before, so I didn't really know. how it was supposed to work. Um it's. 1 or two or something at that time right. now. There wasn't a car that had gone by. in that country for quite some time, so. it's pretty quiet. Um hopped on the bike. again. I couldn't get it started. Didn't.

figure out the switch. It was dark a. little bit so I couldn't find the power. switch. I did end up pedaling the bike. to about the first I think where that. bar is over there in that south corner. bar restaurant. Um I kind of stay out of. the light a little bit but I used some. of the light to kind of figure out the. power button was on the night. Got it all situated and once I figured. out the go button. that was pretty fun. So I started the. bike right. I zoomed over. I didn't go straight to.

the highway from the county road. There's that that offshoot that takes. you down for yourself. Um that was one. of my fears was being on the county road. and being smacked by a truck that night. So I wanted to limit that as much as. possible. Um maybe is county road B or something, but there's a county road kind of the is. it 73? >> Yeah, >> that's there. it kind of starts to drift. towards the souththeast. Somewhere in there, there's a turn that.

shoots off to the right. >> And when pressed on the deeper why, right? Why would he do this? Borg wart. admitted feelings of failure, distance. from his family, and of course, like we. mentioned before, this connection with a. woman that he met overseas who he says. pushed him toward the scheme. >> Talk to me about that. Like I mean I. think. everybody's a little bit perplexed as to. why you took this path.

Guess it in the end it came down to the. feeling of failure in about every aspect. of your life. So. hoping to be remembered for better. things, not all of the mistakes that. you're have and if you don't have maybe. the best communication relationship with. your wife, it's. I don't know how you lose the house or I. don't know those kind of things.

That would be the general answer to. that. Didn't I mean I love my kids. They're. awesome. It's really hard to work. somewhere and not talk about your kids. when they're awesome. That was hard for me.

But um I guess too if you're feeling. like you kind of feel that end of things. too just for a host of reasons they're. never that interested in doing things. with you and it's not like they have to. like like my hobbies or anything or. whatever. But if you're trying to do. stuff with family that happens to be a. hobby and they don't have any interest. or want to do it with you either. It's. just it's just more stuff in the mix. So,

but what gives you some comfort? I guess. I I knew that they were surrounded by. family and friends that. there's obviously a ton of love that. they have. So, and I knew I wasn't like leaving them. behind nothing as far as love and. support. But as I kind of said before too, that's. all. crazy emotional drainage.

over months and months and months. I. think just the inability to feel like. you could talk to your wife about some. of this stuff and maybe the complete. hopelessness that you have in the. situation that you're in. 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. the friend thing ends up coming to you. anymore but you didn't really plan and. it wasn't your intention.

So, a door kind of opens up for a a way. to like. possibly make some things work like. that. >> He told investigators that he had. researched how long it would take before. he could be declared legally dead and. even dreamed about building this new. life in Georgia. >> So, end of April was when you started to. really kind of start conducting your. research like how to either disappear or. >> like is it really possible? Cuz I mean. obviously it's not.

whatever anymore. It's there's cameras. everywhere and everything's digital. So, >> yeah, I was just is it even possible? So, I was looking at past stories about. people that have done it in. what worked, what didn't work, how far. you could go. I was optimistic cuz there was a guy, the German millionaire that disappeared. for about 6 years. If you. >> Okay. There's a German about that. I. didn't know.

>> Um recently, I think even this past. summer, fall, um there was a a German. millionaire that went for a ski trip and. um he vanished somewhere on the mountain. top and 6 years later he was found. living in Moscow. I think that sixth. year was this past year. I was like, "Oh. god, look at that. That guy did it. I. mean, six years, that's not a bad run.". So what was your optimal time to to. disappear that you're hoping for?

>> I mean honestly the the it's seven years. before a missing person's turns to. death. So right. >> so I mean I researched that kind of. stuff. So I knew seven years would be. ideal and then I was hoping that after. at some point that takes 10 years to. become a citizen of there's that trick. of how do you go from one citizen to. another citizen when the citizen is. already dead. I wasn't sure I was going. to do that yet. I was going to hope to. figure that out on the way. Um, but yeah, the the magic numbers that I. knew were seven years and then 10 years.

of living in Georgia, you can just apply. to be a citizen. >> So, you're hoping at least hit that. sevenyear mark and be declared deceased. here? >> Yeah. And then hopefully I'm totally. done over a year. >> Mhm. >> And then. things are better over there. So, they. still had to be there for 10 years. >> However, you have to flash a passport. So the the beautiful thing in Georgia is. it's visa free for a lot of countries. and it's 364 day visa free. So it's like.

you can literally live in Georgia for. 364 days, drive over to Turkey, get your. passport scanned, then drive back into. Georgia and stay for another 364 days. And you can do that. indefinitely per credit law. So that's. there's so many people right now that. are young looking to try the world or. and also there's entrepreneurship 1% tax. in Georgia. So if you want to be like a. computer guy, you can have an apartment, have a business, 1% tax on your. business. Cost of living is super cheap.

You make 30,000 a year, you live like a. prince over there. It's it's it's an. is awesome. It's it's it's perfect. So, you said um you took about I can't. remember about $5,000 with you. >> About $5,500 I think is what I took. >> And then you had a bunch of um like gift. cards and some other stuff too. >> So, just the two just the two Western. Union. >> Western Union. What about the um the. commerce ones? Commerce Visa gift cards.

>> Those were um corporate gift cards. I. guess they're bought for gifts. >> Okay. Um, so that is that about. >> then used to fund the Western Union, >> right? You use those to fund the Western. Union. Okay, >> that makes sense. Um, did you have any. other cards or anything like that that. you can remember? >> Nothing. >> Okay. Um, so. did you ever send any money ahead or. plan ahead for going over there or.

>> there was no there was no money that I. sent ahead for me to use or for my. benefit I guess. >> Okay. To see I I had sent some money. there for. >> for helping somebody kind of put that. puzzle together. But when police finally. reached out, Ryan Borgwart said he. decided to respond. Partly to protect. the woman that he was staying with and. partly because he realized that. investigators were closing in.

>> That's really heavy stuff, right? Probably. months. >> So. you respond to us, right? And. we begin an email conversation and that. goes on for a while. >> Um, so I guess at that point my at that. point that thought my biggest concern. was not getting caught in trouble. So.

and I knew right away that your main. point there was to make sure that I. wasn't that I was safe and secure. I. mean obviously cuz even I was worried. about it. The only reason I had her. information was because I wanted to be. safe about it. I didn't want to go over. to Louisiana and be dead somewhere. So, I had all that stuff and I did what. little that I could do in Wisconsin to. go on Google Earth and verify what she. said. She said her house was and I mean. I could see all these things and we had. talked on video a number of times. I.

could see from her from her bedroom. window, I could see that the house was. there. Google Earth shows me like I did. as much as I could do to make sure that. this was a real person that was sincere. and not. the end of my life, I guess. So. anyway, so then I wanted to make sure. that she wasn't getting in trouble. So I. that's why I knew I had to talk to you. right away. and so I I did really respond right. away, but apparently you guys didn't.

for purposes. Secure email systems have. problems with with secure email systems, I guess. >> Yeah, that was a hurdle we had to get. out. >> This one this one's I mean proton mail. is I think a pretty common secure email. system, but I guess you guys don't like. it. But it's not Switzerland. So I think. I think when you're in as far as I. understand if you're both proton emails. you log in and it's like completely. secure. um if you have access points like from. here to there would be different but I.

mean otherwise I think what you can. track locations and everything else from. neat stuff like that so. >> there's a lot of data associated. metadata associated with emails. obviously. >> pros used by a lot of journalists and. people in foreign countries and so it's. not like I mean yeah I'm sure there's. all kinds of bad guys that use this. stuff there's all kinds of good people. use this stuff too still. >> right. >> like telegram too same thing. >> yeah and on that end you know um I. appreciate teach being patient with us. and we did have an IT hurdle that we had. to overcome there.

>> and I appreciate the patience with me on. that too. So. >> So uh that conversation uh begins and. continues and the reason that you. continued that was for fear of gotcha. being. >> my my first priority is making sure that. she didn't get in trouble. I didn't want. I mean I I didn't want all of a sudden I. mean you guys to call the state. department the state department get. involved and all a sudden Georgia. officials would become like storming a. apartment complex to make sure we had. debt somewhere.

>> right. >> I thought that was a legit concern. >> Yeah. So, >> and um just one thing that you. referenced there, you had verified her. existence to make sure that you weren't. being scammed and some of the things. that you requested included her. passport, right? >> No, actually she gave it to me on her. own pretty well. >> Well, she gave it to you on Okay. So, but that was something that provided you. some confidence that this was in fact a. right person. >> Yeah. >> Okay. and we talk to you.

>> So, and um we were very I I got to say. that we were very concerned that you had. been scammed. Um and you know, I guess. we're aware of situations similar to. this. >> Oh, yeah. >> Um. >> me too. >> Yeah. The only thing that we didn't have. was, you know, the whole kayak portion. involved in other things that we had. looked at. So, um. that was maybe a little different, but. you know, at the outset, we definitely. were concerned, um that that was maybe.

what had occurred, that you had been, you know, scammed and convinced into. doing this in order to to leave the. country and perhaps they would get. whatever money you had on you and access. to certain accounts and things of that. nature and clean you out and then um. dispose of you. and. no one would be any the wiser, right? Because you're still missing in the US. So, um during the course of that. conversation and email between you and.

I, um at any time, did you feel that you. were being coerced or lied to or fed. information that was inaccurate? I mean, early on there was a lot not. sure what's going to happen. Um, I guess. hope for the best. I mean, I. my goal was to not.

I don't want to I mean, I didn't want to. get in trouble. I don't want to. know my record. Obviously, there's. nothing there, but um I wasn't trying to. I was trying to be as honest with you. could. The only thing I just didn't want. to I was just concerned about my. location yet. I didn't want to give that. up. I know I figured as soon as you had. hers, it wouldn't really be that hard to. find us anyway. So, because you do have. to flash your passport for a few things. when you do things. >> Mhm.

>> Although technically that what you have. is your old one. That's her. I guess in. Russia they have two they have like a. passport for inside the country and then. they have an international passport. So. she has a new international room now. That's the old one. >> Yeah. Whatever. So I don't think the. numbers are the same. But I mean, so that was my concern. >> And after everything, the stage. drowning, the overseas escape, the. investigation that unraveled it all, Borgwart finally faced justice in a.

Wisconsin courtroom on August 26th. And. again, that is when Judge Mark Slate. sentenced him to 89 days in jail. That. is the exact amount of days that he. vanished. It's all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can follow. me on Instagram or X. I'm Jesse Weber. See you next time.

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