Madison, Wisconsin (AP) – Wisconsin kayaker Forged his own death I was able to start a new life with a woman from Georgia. He texted his wife to tell her that he loved her the night he carried out his plan and went to the lake to see the Aurora.
Emily Borgward woke up alone the next morning. And then “Baby?” is not answered. By that point, her husband, Ryan Borgward, had already been riding his bike all night to overturn his kayak at Green Lake and board a bus to Canada.
The text was one of the larger files released this week by the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office to Associate Press, offering a glimpse into the couple’s tense marriage. In one of the interviews, Borgward told detectives he was a failure and called on countries at a crossroads between Europe and Asia to plan to rule out “crazy and emotional dreams.”
Borgward, 46, was convicted of obstruction last month. His wife divorce He was in May. The Associated Press left a phone message for her lawyer on Tuesday, and is listed as Andrew Griggs in online court records.
Elaborate plots and desperate search
The cabinet maker, who lived in Watertown with his wife and three children, traveled to Green Lake about 50 miles (80 km) to go to kayak on the evening of August 11, 2024. He never went home.
Sheriff’s deputies discovered his kayak on the lake in an area about 200 feet (60 meters) deep. His body search lasted for 50 days.
I had Borgward I intentionally capsized the kayak and paddled the shore with an inflatable raft. He retrieved the electric bike he had hidden nearby and took a 70-mile (112km) night trip to the capital of Madison, Wisconsin, where he boarded a bus to Toronto Airport.
He eventually arrived in Tbilisi and met a woman named Katia, whom he met in December 2023 on a dating website.
The sheriff’s investigators eventually contacted him by email using the information he left on his laptop. They convinced him to return to Wisconsin in December.
“The door will open for you.”
Before they put Borgward into prison, investigators asked him in a three-hour interview why he did it.
He said later in the interview he felt like a failure, saying he had accumulated about $75,000 in credit card debt and $130,000 in business debt. He said he had no good relationship with his wife and that his children didn’t want anything with him anymore.
“I just don’t think you can feel like you can tell your wife about some of this, and perhaps the complete sense of despair you have in the situation you are in,” he said. “And you’re going to meet a friend somewhere on the other side of the world.
“That wasn’t your intention, so perhaps the door will be opened for you to make something like that work,” he added.
He said he hoped he could avoid detection long enough to be declared legally dead. At that point he had planned to apply for Georgia citizenship, but he had no idea how to do it if he was declared dead.
Clear text exchange
The tensions in Borgward’s marriage were evident in the final text of the night he escaped.
He told her at 10:36pm, “I might have creeped up into the lake.”
“You should know that,” replied Emily Borgward. “I was beginning to wonder why you weren’t home.”
After he apologised, she replied: “I should get used to it by now. So many nights, I don’t know where you are when you’re late.”
He replies that he will work on their communication, adding that he sees the Aurora and they were pink. He then texted: “I love you… Good night.”
Emily Borgward told him she loved him too and was safe.
“I’ll be back to the shore soon,” he responded at 10:49pm. His final message before his wife’s desperate people was asked at 5:12am where he was.
Through the detective’s interview, Borgward repeatedly asked if Katia was also in trouble. He said he wanted to go back to her as he’s much cheaper than Georgia.
At the end of the interview, he asked the detective if he could use the judicial centre’s Wi-Fi to let Katya know he was OK. One of the agents tells Borgward that he will send an email to her for him.
Borgwardt Did not surrender the contest He was charged with obstruction on August 26th. He was sentenced to 89 days in prison.
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Associated Press Writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Tbilisi.
