The authorities spent weeks searching a Wisconsin lake for the man’s body before discovering that he had moved money into a foreign bank account and had been communicating with a woman in Uzbekistan.

But when he failed to return home, his family contacted law enforcement who sent out a search-and-rescue team, which found his capsized kayak and life jacket on the lake. Mr Borgwardt’s car, trailer, fishing rod and wallet were all left at the park nearby.

They also found his overturned kayak with a life jacket attached to it on the lake, in an area where the waters run more than 200 feet (60 meters) deep. An angler later discovered Borgwardt’s fishing rod. Investigators had speculated that Borgwardt’s ...

A husband and father of three who vanished at a Wisconsin lake this summer may have faked his own death and fled to Eastern Europe, authorities said.

A Wisconsin kayaker is believed to have faked his death earlier this year in a bid to leave his family and flee to Europe, according to investigators on Friday. Ryan Borgwardt, a resident of Watertown,

Ryan Borgwardt, a married father of three, has been missing since August after leaving for a relaxing fishing trip on Green Lake, about an hour north of his home in Watertown, Wisconsin. Investigators now suspect the experienced kayaker faked his own death and fled to Europe via Canada.