Ryan Borgwardt biography: 16 things about Watertown, Wisconsin woodworker

Who is Ryan Borgwardt?

Ryan A. Borgwardt is an American woodworker from Watertown, Wisconsin, United States. He is also an experienced kayaker.

Aside from Watertown, Borgwardt has lived in other parts of Wisconsin including Appleton and Oconomowoc. He previously lived in Lovettsville, Virginia, USA.

Borgwardt is one year older than his wife Emily Borgwardt. They have three children together namely Jeremiah Borgwardt, Levi Borgwardt and Norah Borgwardt.

In 2024, Ryan was accused of faking his own death and fleeing to Georgia via Canada. At the time, Emily was employed as a first grade teacher at Trinity St. Luke’s Lutheran School in Watertown.

The office of the Green Lake County, Wisconsin sheriff spent more than one month to search for Ryan’s body. It cost at least $35,000.

Ryan is an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Here are 16 more things about him:

1. In July 2002, he and Emily got married. 
2. From 2014 to 2019, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
3. In May 2018, he became the president of Crimson Branch Woodwork and Acrylic in Watertown.
4. In January 2024, he took out a $375,000 life insurance policy and purchased airline cards after changing all the email addresses linked to his bank accounts, communicating with a Russian-speaking Uzbek woman and transferring funds to a foreign bank account.
5. In May 2024, he obtained a new passport after reporting his original passport lost or stolen.
6. On August 11, 2024, he replaced the hard drive on his laptop, cleared his browser history, left for a fishing trip on Green Lake, Green Lake County, rode an electric bike through the night to Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, took a bus to Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA and boarded a bus to Canada, caught a flight to Paris, France and flew to Georgia where he met the Uzbek woman he was communicating with.
7. On August 12, 2024, he was reported missing after his capsized kayak was found in the lake and his vehicle was found at Dodge Memorial Park in Markesan, Green Lake County. 
8. On August 13, 2024, law enforcement in Canada checked his name and found out that he has two passports.
9. In September 2024, he turned 45.
10. On November 8, 2024, the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported that he staged his disappearance before likely fleeing to Georgia. Authorities did not announce that they found the photo of the Uzbek woman he was communicating with in his laptop, which he had left at home in Watertown.
11. On November 11, 2024, he started communicating with authorities in the U.S. by sending them a video of himself saying he was in his apartment without revealing exactly where he was.
12. On November 21, 2023, Green Lake County sheriff Mark Podoll held a news conference about him.
13. On December 10, 2024, he went back to the U.S. and  and turned himself in at the Green Lake County Justice Center in Green Lake.
14. On December 11, 2024, Emily filed for a legal separation from him in Dodge County Circuit Court in Juneau, Dodge County, Wisconsin and a court hearing in the case was scheduled for April 2025. 
15. On December 12, 2024, he appeared in court before a judge who entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
16. On December 23, 2024, he will appear in court again.