A Wisconsin man who staged his own disappearance to flee to the country of Georgia left his wife sending frantic, unanswered messages the morning after he vanished, according to newly released case documents from the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Ryan Borgwardt, a 46-year-old cabinetmaker from Watertown, executed what investigators described as a meticulously planned disappearance on the night of Aug. 11, 2024, by tipping his kayak into Green Lake and vanishing. In text messages released by investigators, Borgwardt had told his wife, Emily, late that night that he had “snuck out on a lake” to watch the northern lights and apologized when she asked why he had not told her. He sent a final message at 10:49 p.m. saying, “I love you.... goodnight.” Hours later, Emily’s early morning messages — including “Where are you????” and “Babe?” — went unanswered.

Investigators say Borgwardt had planned the disappearance for months. After capsizing his kayak, he told detectives he paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft, retrieved an electric bike he had stashed nearby and rode about 70 miles overnight to Madison. From there he caught a bus to Toronto and flew to Tbilisi, where he met a woman identified in court records only as Katya, whom he said he had connected with on a dating site in December 2023.

During extensive interviews with detectives, Borgwardt described the scheme as a “crazy, emotional dream” and acknowledged financial and familial pressures that he said contributed to his decision. He told investigators he carried roughly $75,000 in credit card debt and about $130,000 in business debt, and said his marriage had become strained and his children “no longer wanted anything to do with him.” He said he had researched how to be declared legally dead by April 2024 so he could eventually apply for Georgian citizenship, although he had not set out a method to secure such status under a false identity.

Borgwardt’s capsized kayak was eventually found in a deep part of Green Lake, touching off a 50-day search for his body. Investigators later used information from a laptop he left behind to contact him by email. Several months after his disappearance, in December, sheriff’s deputies persuaded him to return to Wisconsin, appealing to him to do right by his family, according to the sheriff’s office.

Borgwardt pleaded no contest to a single count of obstruction on Aug. 26, 2025, and was sentenced to 89 days in jail. Court records show the charge stemmed from misleading investigators during the missing-persons search and related actions taken to conceal his whereabouts. His wife subsequently divorced him in May.

The case drew local attention for the lengths investigators say Borgwardt went to create the appearance of death and for the cross-border element of his flight. Law enforcement officials said coordination with transportation and border authorities was essential to tracing his travel after he left Wisconsin.

Sheriff’s office records portray the episode as a mixture of deliberate planning and personal turmoil. In post-return interviews, Borgwardt told detectives he felt like a failure and described meeting “a friend somewhere on the other side of the world” who became more than a friend. He has not been accused of crimes beyond the obstruction charge disclosed in court filings.

The episode highlights challenges that arise when domestic criminal investigations intersect with international travel and communications. County officials did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on investigative procedures or on whether any other charges were under consideration.