Overview

• Ryan Borgwardt, 45, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor obstruction and was ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution for search costs.
• The judge set the jail term at 89 days to match the length of time Borgwardt misled investigators, exceeding the 45 days both sides recommended.
• Investigators say he prepared by obtaining a new passport, reversing a vasectomy, taking out life insurance, transferring funds, and researching how to fake a drowning.
• According to the complaint, he tipped his kayak, used an inflatable raft to reach shore, biked to Madison, then traveled through Canada and Europe before arriving in Georgia to meet a woman he met online.
• Authorities made contact with him overseas in November after a Russian-speaking woman connected them, and he voluntarily returned to Wisconsin in December to face the charge.