The wife of the Wisconsin man who allegedly faked his own death and fled to eastern Europe has filed for divorce, according to online court records.
Reviewed by the Associated Press, online court records revealed that Emily Borgwardt has filed a divorce petition against Ryan Borgwardt, her husband and father of three kids in Wisconsin’s Dodge county circuit court.
The records described the Borgwardt’s 22-year marriage as “irretrievably broken” and added that Emily Borgwardt is seeking sole custody of their three children, the Associated Press reports.
Emily Borgwardt’s petition for divorce comes after Ryan Borgwardt began communicating with law enforcement officials in November following a three-month disappearance.
Subsequent investigation by police revealed that Ryan Borgwardt faked his own death in mid-August by pretending to drown in Wisconsin’s Green Lake – which he said he picked because it was the deepest lake in the state – by overturning his kayak, discarding his phone and then paddling to a nearby inflatable boat.
Ryan Borgwardt then traveled to Madison, where he said he took a bus to Detroit, then another bus to Toronto before catching a flight to Paris and then traveling to an eastern European country.
According to a criminal complaint against him reviewed by the Associated Press, he said a woman picked him up and they spent several days in a hotel together before he took up residency in the eastern European country of Georgia.
An analysis of Borgwardt’s digital trail by law enforcement revealed that Ryan Borgwardt had planned to travel to Europe and then attempted to mislead investigators.
On the day he disappeared, the hard drive of a laptop tied to Ryan Borgwardt had been replaced and all the internet browsers had been cleared, the Associated Press reports, adding that investigators found passport photos, inquiries about transferring funds to foreign banks, communication with a woman from Uzbekistan as well as a $375,000 life insurance policy that he took out in January.
Since Ryan Borgwardt’s return to the US, he has been charged with misdemeanor obstruction of the search for his body, which spanned more than 50 days and involved multiple dives by search personnel into Green Lake.
According to the Green Lake county sheriff’s office, the search for Ryan Borgwardt cost at least $35,000.
