A Wisconsin father of three who faked his own death to flee to Europe in an attempt to start a new life has been sentenced to serve 89 days in prison – the same length of time that authorities spent searching for him.

Ryan Borgwardt, 45, vanished on a fishing trip in August 2024, leaving behind his phone, ID, and an overturned boat. Officials searched for his body but later discovered he had fled to Canada then to Georgia in the former Soviet Union.

Officials say he went to Georgia to meet a woman from Uzbekistan whom he had met online.

The judge’s 89-day sentence for obstruction is twice as long as the term requested by prosecutors as part of their plea deal with Borgwardt.

He was also ordered by Green Lake County Circuit Court Judge Mark Slate to pay a $30,000 (£22,000) restitution for costs spent by search and rescue crews who were sent to look for him.

“He obstructed law enforcement for a total of 89 days,” Judge Slate said, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Before sentencing, Borgwardt told the court: “I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family, friends.”

Before leaving his wife of 22 years, Borgwardt took out a life insurance policy, transferred funds to a foreign bank account, applied for a replacement passport, and had a medical procedure to reverse his vasectomy.

“His entire plan to fake his death, to devastate his family in order to serve his own selfish desires hinged on him dying in the lake and selling his death to the world,” District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa said ahead of the sentencing.

According to prosecutors, his plan was discovered in November after a Russian-speaking woman connected him with authorities. Her identity is not clear.

Law enforcement said they contacted him in an effort to draw him back home, and later released a short clip of a video he sent to authorities.

“I’m in my apartment. I am safe, secure, no problem,” he says in the video.

By December, he returned to the US and was charged with obstruction. His wife also filed for divorce.

His lawyer said on Tuesday that Borgwardt could have chosen to remain in Georgia, as the misdemeanour charge he was facing would not have qualified him for extradition.

“If he didn’t want to come back; he didn’t need to come back,” said his attorney, Erik Johnson, according to NBC News.

“He came back from Europe to take responsibility for his actions,” he added.