Kare11
Wisconsin law enforcement believe missing kayaker might be alive
Data from a laptop showed Ryan Borgwardt may have fled to Eastern Europe.
MINNEAPOLIS — A missing Wisconsin man authorities thought had drowned might be alive in Europe.
Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll said Ryan Borgwardt went kayaking on Aug. 11 on Green Lake and never returned home. His deputies found his kayak overturned. They believe it capsized, so he started to swim without a life jacket. A fisherman found his fishing rod two days later, while someone else found his tackle box.
Podoll called Keith Cormican with Bruce’s Legacy, a volunteer search and recovery group for drowned victims, to help find Borgwardt. Cormican started the nonprofit in honor of his brother, Bruce, a Black River Falls firefighter who drowned searching for a missing father.
Cormican helped Podall with searches at Green Lake in the past, and felt confident they would find Borgwardt because of all the cellphone data.
“I was thinking a day or two I would have this wrapped up,” Cormican said.
But it turned into 23 days.
“We had covered that lake like I had never covered any other lake. We just scoured that thing just assuming he was there and based on that cellphone information,” he said.
Cormican said his team worked tirelessly to find him using sonar equipment and a remote operated vehicle — basically an underwater drone with lights — cameras and its sonar to check target areas. So, when they couldn’t find him, he knew something was off.
“It was the multiple days of just scouring this area kept building to the question of whether he’s there or not,” Cormican said. “He should have shown up on the sonar information.”
He said he noticed a few flags early on, but they continued to search based on the initial investigation and wanting to get closure for the family.
“One of the driving forces to keeping us searching on the lake is always the support from the family and the local department,” he said.
Cormican eventually had a conversation with Podoll about continuing the search at the lake. He said he started to think something else happened and they needed to check other places.
Podoll said they renewed their investigative efforts based on what Cormican said because he’s an expert at what he does and Cormican was confident there wasn’t a body in the lake.
Shortly after they learned Borgwardt’s name had been checked by Canadian law enforcement on August 13 with help from the Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center. Then he learned Borgwardt reported his passport was missing and got another on May 22. His family found his original passport.
Podoll said they were able to analyze a family laptop and discovered the hard drive was replaced, search browser had been cleared the day he disappeared, passport photos, inquiries about moving funds to foreign banks, he was talking with a woman from Uzbekistan, and he took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
“Just the information that we gleaned from the computer lead us to believe, he’s not in the lake, he’s out of the state of Wisconsin, and he’s in some other country. Do we know that he’s alive? No, we don’t know that yet,” Podoll said.
Investigators believe he faked his own death and ran away to Europe.
Podoll said they searched for Borgwardt for 54 days. They’ve since ended all search efforts at the lake.
The sheriff said this has been a difficult time for the family.
“They’re doing OK. It’s a whole switch now from having their loved one drowned and to now knowing he’s out of the country some place,” he said.
“I’m very surprised that somebody could actually do this. First time it’s ever happened to me. I’ve been doing this for 34 years,” Cormican said.
Cormican said he was shocked to hear he might still be alive.
“Multiple feelings. I mean right of way it was kind of a relief knowing that he is alive for one thing, and that I didn’t miss him because he’s not there. I was really questioning my abilities having done this for so many years,” he said.
What makes this news difficult to hear now is that he got called to help with other searches while looking for Borgwardt.
“That’s the sad part about it. I was getting requests to go out to Green Bay to search for a young man out on the lake so that kind of put a damper in that search. I split my time up between the two of them,” he said. “Then later into that search I got asked to out to Wyoming for an individual that was originally from Wisconsin, parents are from Wisconsin, and he is from Minneapolis, so I had to delay that because I was bound and determined to get this guy found first.”
He said he’ll be able to move past this, but he knows it won’t be as easy for the family.
Podoll said he’s never seen anything like this, and his office won’t stop searching for him.
“His entire family is here for him. They miss him, and we just want him back. We can deal with the situations and what he got himself into, that we can deal with, it’s just get back home to his children,” Podoll said.
In the meantime, Podoll said they are trying to see what crimes were committed and figuring out how much this search and recovery cost taxpayers.
“We don’t have an exact figure. We’re putting that together. Our plan is to get some kind of restitution request,” he said.
Podoll is encouraging people who have any information or may have knowingly or unknowingly helped Borgwardt to contact the sheriff’s office or the Green Lake County Crime Stoppers.
You can text “GETTHEM” to 847411 or call 1-800-GET THEM.
Kare11
Rescue! – A chase, a crash and martial arts store workers race to save mother and babies in Fenton.
Employees of a Fenton martial arts school ran to the aid of a mother and her babies after the rollover crash. They said their training helped them rescue the family.
FENTON, Mo. — Employees at a martial arts business in Fenton rushed to save a mother and her twin eight-month-old babies after their vehicle was struck during a police pursuit involving federal officers on Interstate 44 in Fenton.
Surveillance video captured the moment a car being pursued by the DEA and Homeland Security struck the woman’s car on Wednesday.
Those who helped rescue them said it was a miracle they walked away alive.
The woman’s car flipped multiple times from the interstate, over the fence, and onto South Highway Drive before it landed in front of Xtreme Krav Maga & Fitness in Fenton.
“All of a sudden, I heard a car crash, screeching noise, and my fellow employee, Lindsay, was here at the front counter, and she said, ‘Oh, that’s not good,'” said Dustin Pluth, a manager at the business.
Within seconds, Pluth sprang into action, running outside to the car.
“It was just kind of an instinct thing. Once I saw the car rolling, coming to a halt, and running up to it, I found a mom and two babies inside,” he said.
Pluth cut the mom’s seatbelt off to get her out and pulled her twin babies out of the sunroof. Then another employee, Lindsay Cross, comforted the mom while walking them inside to get warm.
“She was very terrified of just being in a car wreck number one, not knowing what was going on. She didn’t know what the outcome was, and then she was obviously worried about her kids,” Pluth said.
The business offers self-defense and martial arts classes, as well as medical training and trauma-one classes, which teach people how to become first responders.
Pluth said it’s training that helped them rescue the family.
“Luckily, the good people in this scenario had a few scratches on them, but it could’ve been a worse Christmas. And as a dad, kids being injured is the worst fear ever,” he said.
Of all places for a car accident to end, Pluth said it was the best result of a bad situation.
“She got handled and cared for, and the babies were cared for probably as quickly as we possibly could do. It’s definitely a Christmas miracle that it happened here, and they came as unscathed as possible,” Pluth said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said several suspects were taken into custody following the federal police pursuit.
Pluth said the mom was a little banged up, but thankfully, they’re all doing well.
Tracie Munce, owner of Merlin’s Rest, joined KARE 11 Saturday to discuss the upcoming singalong and share a dish.
MINNEAPOLIS — A neighborhood bar in south Minneapolis is sharing a popular recipe and announcing the return of a favorite holiday tradition.
Merlin’s Rest, which has been in the Longfellow neighborhood for nearly two decades, will host its annual pub carol singalong on Sunday, Dec. 22·from 2 to 4 p.m.
Merlin’s not only has the most extensive selection of single malt Scotch and Irish whiskey in the state, but it also serves award-winning pub classics like bangers and mash and authentic fish and chips.
Owner Tracie Munce joined KARE 11 Saturday to discuss the upcoming singalong and share a dish.
Recipe: Beef Wellington
- 3lb ribeye roast
- ¾ cups Beef Stock
- Steak seasoning
- 1 ¼ lb crimini mushroom
- ½ shallots
- ¼ onion
- 4 Tbls garlic
- 1 long stalks of rosemary
- 1 TBS bisto gravy mix mixed with 1 TBS cold water
- 1 cups water mixed with 1TBS beef base and 1 TBS garlic base
- 8oz of sliced and diced thinly Ham
- Puff pastry sheets
Coat thawed ribeye with oil and sprinkle steak seasoning all over the roast, cook each side for about 5-8 minutes then transfer to a roaster with about 1-2 cups of beef stock, fat side up. Cover with aluminum foil and roast at 350 degrees for 2 hours – remove from the roaster and let rest – save the juice for gravy.
Clean and quarter mushrooms and place into a food processor, pulse into a small dice. Rough chop shallot and add into the mushroom, pulse a few more times.
Remove rosemary leaves from stem & rough chop, combine with mushrooms and shallots
In a large skillet add 1 Tbs butter and add the mushroom mixture, cook on medium-high heat until all the water has evaporated, about 15 minutes, put in a large bowl
Cube beef, take off fat, and add to the mushroom bowl
Thin, long slices of ham then chop and to beef and mushroom mixture. Salt and Pepper (about 1TBS of each) and combine
Dice onion and garlic and sauté in 1TBS butter until just browning, add juice from roasting the ribeye and about 1 cup of Beef stock. Let boil then add slowly the bisto slurry to thicken. Add a small amount of gravy mixture to the beef mixture to moisten – do not need much gravy.
Cut pastry into large squares and place into jumbo muffin tin. Add ½ cup of meat & mushroom mixture and pull puff over top of meat, pinching to seal everything in. Brush top with egg, and sprinkle with smoked paprika. Bake for 25-30 mins at 350
Add your side of choice with Wellington pie and a side of gravy.
Jamie Preuss from So Happy You Liked It joined KARE 11 Saturday to demonstrate how to DIY a hot buttered rum mix and homemade Irish cream.
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — There might not be anything more heartfelt at the holidays, than homemade gifts. While cookies might be your go-to… how about mixing things up, with a homemade drink mix?
Jamie Preuss from So Happy You Liked It joined KARE 11 Saturday to demonstrate how to DIY a hot buttered rum mix and homemade Irish cream.
Recipe: Hot Buttered Rum
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 oz dark rum
- 6-8 oz hot water
Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients except ice cream.
Once combined, add softened ice cream, and blend to thoroughly mix in.
Freeze the mixture for at least 2 hours.
In a mug, combine hot water, rum, and 1 heaping spoonful of mixture. Stir to dissolve.
Recipe: Homemade Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 2 T cocoa powder
- 2 t instant espresso
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 t almond
- 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup cream
- 1 1/2 cup Irish whiskey, optional
Mix cocoa and espresso powder with 2 tablespoons of hot water and mix to combine.
Add all ingredients except the cream to a blender (including whiskey if you are using it), and blend to fully combine.
Add the cream to the blender and pulse to combine. Don’t blend
too long because this will start to aerate the cream and make the drink super thick!
Transfer to 1 large or several smaller flip-top glass jars. Give them as gifts or keep them for yourself!
The mix will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
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