GREEN LAKE, Wis. - Investigators say a missing kayaker faked his own drowning death in Green Lake. It's an investigation that reads like a movie script, and took everyone, including Green Lake County Sheriff Mark Podoll by surprise.

The case of a missing Watertown kayaker is going global less than a week after investigators revealed their suspicion that he may have faked his own death and fled to Europe. 44-year-old Ryan Borgwardt took that fishing trip Aug.

A man apparently faked his own drowning so he could abandon his family and flee to eastern Europe, investigators say.

Ryan Borgwardt, a married father of three, has been missing since August after leaving for a relaxing fishing trip on Green Lake, about an hour north of his home in Watertown, Wisconsin. Investigators now suspect the experienced kayaker faked his own death and fled to Europe via Canada.

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.

Authorities in Wisconsin believe that Ryan Borgwardt, a 44-year-old married father of three, staged his disappearance and fled to Europe.

A husband and father of three who vanished at a Wisconsin lake this summer may have faked his own death and fled to Eastern Europe, authorities said.