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Ryan Borgwardt, 45 (Credit: 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 located Borgwardt’s kayak, life jacket and fishing pole; his vehicle was at the boat launch. The search 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, wiped his hard drives and browser history and changed his banking information on the day of his disappearance. He also took out a $375,000 life insurance policy and purchased an airline gift card.

“Thanks to these discoveries of new evidence, we were certain that Ryan was not in our lake,” said Sheriff Mark Podoll.

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

The sheriff’s office is asking Borgwardt to come home to his family. He’ll probably have to pay restitution for the hundreds of hours crews spent searching for him.

Read more about this story at FOX 6.