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Ryan Borgwardt, 45 (Source: WLUK)

GREEN LAKE, Wis. – The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that it believes a kayaker initially thought to have gone missing this summer may have actually faked his own death.

Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was reported missing on August 12. According to the sheriff’s office, via WLUK-TVAn early search in and around Green Lake found Borgwardt’s kayak, life jacket and fishing rod; The vehicle was at the boat launch. The searches continued for more than a month.

Authorities are searching Green Lake. (Credit: WLUK)

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Now investigators have learned that Borgwardt obtained a second passport, cleared his hard drives and browser history, and changed his banking information on the day he disappeared. He also took out a $375,000 life insurance policy and purchased an airline gift card.

“Due to the discovery of new evidence, we were confident Ryan was not in our lake,” said Sheriff Mark Podoll.

Borgwardt is said to be in contact with a woman from Uzbekistan, a country of about 36 million people in Central Asia.

The sheriff’s office wants Borgwardt to return to his family. He’ll probably have to pay for the hundreds of hours the crew spent searching for him.

Read the rest of this story here: FOX 6.