For several weeks, the family of avid kayaker Ryan Borgwardt braced for the likelihood that search divers were about to find his body in a Wisconsin lake. His kayak, fishing rod, wallet and car keys were found at Green Lake on 12 August, the day he disappeared, and a lifejacket floating on the water offered further evidence that his wife and three children had lost their husband and father.
An investigation, however, has determined that Borgwardt took out a $375,000 life insurance policy, faked his own death and simply vanished, possibly to central Asia to join a woman with whom he had been communicating online.