GREEN LAKE, Wis. —

For the first time, we're hearing from Ryan Borgwardt in his own words. The man, once known as the missing Wisconsin kayaker, told investigators during a three-hour recorded conversation how he faked his drowning and ran away to eastern Europe to meet a woman he'd met online.

And sister station WISN obtained it through an open records request. Advertisement

From his final text exchange with his wife to the first dispatch call, it's all revealed in the newly released video and documents.

"He was on a kayak," the dispatch call stated. "And she woke up, and he is not home. And she can't get a hold of him."

"Oh dear," the other person on the call responded.

Body camera footage, time-stamped August 2024, then showed the moment deputies found his van and overturned kaya

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