GREEN LAKE, Wis. (CBS) – A kayaker accused of faking his death and fleeing to Europe He returned to Wisconsin and was in police custody Tuesday night. According to court records, Ryan Borgwardt45, was booked into the Green Lake County Jail Tuesday afternoon.
Borgwardt disappeared Aug. 12 while kayaking on Green Lake, about 50 miles northeast of Wisconsin Dells. Crews spent 54 days searching the lake, which is more than 200 feet deep in some spots, hoping to find a body.
No body was ever found, but investigators did find evidence that Borgwardt had moved money into foreign accounts and ended up in Europe.
Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said last month that Borgwardt had admitted to leading her disappearance by overturning her kayak, then returning to shore in a child-sized inflatable boat, riding her electric bicycle to a bus station, taking a bus from Detroit to Canada and then flying to Europe.
Podoll said investigators discovered in early October that Borgwardt had entered Canada a day after she disappeared. He synced his laptop to the cloud a few days earlier, swapped out his hard drive, and deleted his search history.
Authorities also determined that Borgwardt had taken out a $375,000 life insurance policy for his family in January, transferred money to a foreign bank, created a new email address and purchased airline cards. Podoll said Borgwardt had been in contact with a woman living in Uzbekistan, and they were eventually able to reach him through a Russian-speaking woman.
A news conference is scheduled for Wednesday morning, when information about possible charges is expected to be announced.