Wisconsin
Wisconsin kayaker who faked his death and fled to Asia says plan was a ‘crazy, emotional dream’
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin kayaker who faked his own death so he could start a new life with a woman in the country of Georgia texted his wife he loved her on the night he executed the plan, telling her he had gone to the lake to watch the northern lights.
Emily Borgwardt woke up alone the next morning, her desperate texts of “Where are you????” and “Babe?” going unanswered. By that point her husband, Ryan Borgwardt, had already overturned his kayak on Green Lake and biked through the night to catch a bus to Canada, the first leg on his journey to the Georgian capital of Tibilsi to meet a Ukranian woman he was secretly courting online.
The texts were among a massive file of case documents the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office released to The Associated Press this week that offer a glimpse into the couple’s tense marriage. In one included interview, Borgwardt told detectives that he was a failure and called his plan to abscond to the country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia a “crazy, emotional dream.”
Borgwardt, 46, was convicted of obstruction last month. His wife divorced him in May. The AP left a phone message Tuesday for her attorney, listed in online court records as Andrew Griggs.
An elaborate plot and frantic search
The cabinetmaker, who lived with his wife and their three children in Watertown, traveled about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to Green Lake to go kayaking on the night of Aug. 11, 2024. He never came home.
Sheriff’s deputies discovered his kayak on the lake in an area where the water was about 200 feet (60 meters) deep. The search for his body went on for 50 days.
Borgwardt had intentionally overturned the kayak and paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft. He retrieved an electric bike he had stashed nearby and rode 70 miles (112 kilometers) through the night to the Wisconsin capital of Madison, where he caught a bus to the Toronto airport.
He eventually made it to Tibilsi where he met a woman named Katya he’d met on a dating website in December 2023. By February of 2024 they had become close friends and he began researching how to fake his own death that April so he could be with her.
Sheriff’s investigators eventually contacted him via email using information on a laptop he had left behind. They convinced him to return to Wisconsin in December, largely by pleading with him to do right by his family.
‘A door kind of opens up for you’
Before they booked Borgwardt into jail, investigators asked him during a three-hour interview why he did it.
He said he felt like a failure, saying later in the interview that he has accumulated about $75,000 in credit card debt and $130,000 in business debt. He said he didn’t have a good relationship with his wife and his children didn’t want to do anything with him anymore.
“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,” he said. “And you end up meeting a friend somewhere on the other side of the world who sort of has a somewhat similar story and you just end up becoming friends and the friend thing ends up turning into more, but you didn’t really plan on that.
“It wasn’t your intention. So a door kind of opens up for you in a way to possibly make things work like that,” he added.
He said he hoped that he could avoid detection long enough to be declared legally dead. At that point he planned to apply for citizenship in Georgia but hadn’t figured out how to do that if he was declared dead.
A revealing text exchange
The tension in the Borgwardts’ marriage was evident in their last texts the night he fled.
He told her at 10:36 p.m. that he “may have snuck out on a lake.”
“That would have been nice to know,” Emily Borgwardt responded. “I was beginning to wonder why you weren’t home.”
After he apologized, she responded: “Nothing new. I should be used to it by now. So many nights I have no idea where you are when it’s late.”
He responded that he’ll work on their communication, adding that he saw the northern lights and they were pink. He then texted: “I love you…. goodnight.”
Emily Borgwardt told him that she loved him, too, and to be safe.
“I’ll be heading back to shore soon,” he responded at 10:49 p.m., his final message before his wife’s frantic ones at 5:12 a.m. asking where he was.
Throughout the interview with detectives Borgwardt repeatedly asked whether Katya was in trouble, too. He said he would like to return to her because the cost of living is so much cheaper in Georgia than in the U.S.
At the end of the interview, he asked the detectives if he could use the justice center’s Wi-Fi to let Katya know he was OK. One of the deputies tells Borgwardt he’ll email her for him.
Borgwardt pleaded no contest to the obstruction charge on Aug. 26. He was sentenced to 89 days in jail.
—-
Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
What to know about NCAA-tourney bound Wisconsin Badgers softball
The Wisconsin Badgers are headed to the NCAA softball tournament. These are some names to know, as well as some pertinent history.
Wisconsin softball could not keep up with the reigning national champions.
Texas – the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament – run-ruled the Badgers, 9-0, in six innings on May 16 in the Austin regional of the NCAA Tournament, easily sending UW to the consolation side of the double-elimination bracket.
Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan took a no-hitter into the fifth inning until Alivia Bark’s single. The Badgers’ only other baserunner during Kavan’s five innings in the circle was on a walk in the first inning.
The Badgers did not have a runner in scoring position until the sixth inning, when Emily Bojan hit a double off Texas reliever Cambria Salmon.
The Longhorns, meanwhile, wasted no time in distancing themselves from the Badgers with their bats. They scored three runs in the first inning after back-to-back hits by Kayden Henry and Katie Stewart, a sacrifice fly by Viviana Martinez and a two-run home run by Reese Atwood.
Texas scored another two runs on a Henry double in the second inning, prompting the Badgers to pull UW ace Shelby Jacobson. One day after her complete-game win over Baylor, Jacobson gave up five earned runs against the Longhorns in 1 ⅓ innings pitched.
Texas piled on with two more runs in the third inning in small-ball fashion after loading the bases, and completed the run-rule win with Henry’s two-run homer in the sixth inning – her third hit of the afternoon – off UW reliever Jordan Felci. (The mercy rule in college softball is eight runs after five or more innings.)
All three UW pitchers to face the Longhorns – Jacobson, Berritt Herr and then Felci – each gave up at least two runs against the host and SEC tournament champion.
When, who will Wisconsin softball play next
The Badgers will look to keep their tournament run alive later today in a consolation game against the winner of the Baylor-Wagner game. (The winner of UW’s next game would then need to defeat Texas twice on May 17 to win the Austin regional.)
UW defeated Baylor in the first round following Hannah Conger’s walk-off double in the ninth inning. Wagner is coming off a 9-1 loss against Texas. The first pitch of UW’s second game is expected to be at approximately 5 p.m., depending on the duration of the Baylor-Wagner game.
This story will be updated after Wisconsin’s second game against Baylor or Wagner.
MILWAUKEE – The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of southeast Wisconsin late Friday night. It remains in effect until 5 a.m. on Saturday, May 16.
The watch covers Jefferson, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. Storms could produce gusty wind and hail.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android
FOX6 Weather Extras
Local perspective:
Meanwhile, FOX6Now.com offers a variety of extremely useful weather tools to help you navigate the stormy season. They include the following:
FOX6 Storm Center app
FOX LOCAL Mobile app
FOX Weather app
FOX Weather
Maps and radar
We have a host of maps and radars on the FOX6 Weather page that are updating regularly — to provide you the most accurate assessment of the weather. From a county-by-county view to the Midwest regional radar and a national view — it’s all there.
School and business closings
When the weather gets a little dicey, schools and businesses may shut down. Monitor the latest list of closings, cancellations, and delays reported in southeast Wisconsin.
FOX6 Weather Experts in social media
The Source: Information in this report is from the FOX6 Weather Experts and National Weather Service.
Add CBS Sports to the growing list national outlets that are decidedly low on Wisconsin football heading into the 2026 season.
In the website’s updated full 1-through-138 offseason rankings, the Badgers check in at a dismal 61st nationally and 15th in the Big Ten.
Here’s how the outlet ranks the entire Big Ten:
|
Program |
National Rank |
|---|---|
|
Ohio State |
No. 1 |
|
Oregon |
No. 3 |
|
Indiana |
No. 6 |
|
USC |
No. 14 |
|
Michigan |
No. 16 |
|
Penn State |
No. 18 |
|
Washington |
No. 19 |
|
Iowa |
No. 23 |
|
Illinois |
No. 28 |
|
Nebraska |
No. 35 |
|
Minnesota |
No. 40 |
|
Northwestern |
No. 48 |
|
UCLA |
No. 49 |
|
Maryland |
No. 51 |
|
Wisconsin |
No. 61 |
|
Rutgers |
No. 64 |
|
Michigan State |
No. 66 |
|
Purdue |
No. 99 |
Yes, Wisconsin is coming off its worst season since the early 1990s. Yes, the Badgers are running it back with head coach Luke Fickell, who has a losing record through three seasons in Madison.
But whenever the national media has ranked the Badgers this offseason, it feels like they’re ranking their 2025 squad in the context of the upcoming campaign. It may not seem like it to an outsider (or, ahem, the national media), but a lot has changed in Madison since the worst football season in over 30 years.
Wisconsin is lower than who??
Again, I understand why the Badgers are ranked low on this list. They haven’t inspired any sort of confidence in at least two seasons. But some of the teams ranked above them are…extremely questionable.
Maryland man-handled Wisconsin in Camp Randall Stadium last fall, but the Terps proceeded to go 1-8 in Big Ten play. Folks are high on their offense with sophomore quarterback Malik Washington, but placing the Terps a full 10 spots ahead of Wisconsin seems a little excessive.
How about UCLA? The Bruins went 3-9 last fall. Sure, they’ve vastly upgraded their coaching staff and flipped almost half their team, but that means their entire roster is essentially projection.
What about Northwestern? Sure, the Wildcats won seven games last season, but how excited are we about new quarterback Aidan Chiles, who’s struggled through three combined years at Oregon State and Michigan State?
How about some of the non-Big Ten teams ranked higher than Wisconsin? The UTSA Roadrunners are ranked above the Badgers. Though it’s only by two spots, that in particular might be the biggest slap in the face.
Even a team like Virginia Tech, ranked No. 37 (24 spots higher than the Badgers) is puzzling. Sure, there’s signs of life under new head coach James Franklin, but the Hokies went 3-9 last fall.
Wisconsin’s offseason remains slept on
What rankings like these, especially the teams ranked higher than Wisconsin tell us, is that the national media is still sleeping on the Badgers’ offseason. Clearly, other programs (like Virginia Tech coming off a 3-9 campaign) were thought to have improved drastically. Wisconsin, on the other hand? Not so much.
The Badgers didn’t have the flashiest transfer portal haul, but they did address every position of need and sign a handful of plug-and-play starers at key spots. Every position on offense appears to be deeper and more talented after a dismal 2025, while the same looks true on defense except potentially at defensive line and outside linebacker.
Yes, Wisconsin was terrible last year. Everybody knows that. But the national media remains skeptical the Badgers did much to change that this offseason, which, in my eyes, is a grave miscalculaiton.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
-
Mississippi56 seconds agoWhy Mississippi State baseball pitching is struggling heading into SEC Tournament
-
Missouri7 minutes agoMan, 20, charged in Kansas City, Missouri, road rage shooting that critically injured woman, 19
-
Montana13 minutes agoRob McManus, Jenavieve Lynch win titles for Montana State at Big Sky Conference track and field championships
-
Nebraska19 minutes agoDangerous storm threat continues through Monday in Nebraska
-
Nevada25 minutes ago‘It was special’: Bishop Gorman wins Class 5A baseball state title — PHOTOS
-
New Hampshire31 minutes agoNew Hampshire’s child mental health bill stalled by House – Valley News
-
New Jersey37 minutes agoRedesigned New Jersey golf course holes drawing rave reviews
-
New Mexico43 minutes agoLine Fire, Mimms Fire – Quay County – Update