Authorities discovered Ryan Borgwardt got a new passport and transferred money to a foreign bank before vanishing.

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.

When Ryan Borgwardt didn't return home from a fishing trip on Green Lake in Wisconsin in early August, local authorities believed he had drowned. But now they believe he is alive and well.

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.

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.

In August, Ryan Borgwardt’s capsized kayak was found in Green Lake, and his car and trailer were seen near the bank of the lake. But investigators later found he had wiped his laptop and was communicating with a woman from Uzbekistan.