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'Is there anybody who wasn't shocked?': Watertown community reacts to case of runaway kayaker

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WATERTOWN (NBC 26) — Ryan Borgwardt, the 45-year-old Watertown father of three who law enforcement said faked his own death and fled to Eastern Europe, is now back in Wisconsin; and his wife has filed for separation.

The shocking case has catapulted his hometown into the national spotlight, so NBC 26 spoke to people in town about how they're feeling about the attention.

"Watertown is a great city, but even strange stories happen in a small town, bizarre stories," said Sally Wendt.

And when it comes to bizarre stories, they don't get much stranger than the case of Ryan Borgwardt.

"When you hear the increasing craziness of this story, it is definitely something you say, 'not in Watertown, Wisconsin!'" said Tim Sullivan, editor at the Watertown Daily Times.

As editor of the newspaper, Sullivan nows this small, tight-knit community of about 22,000 people better than most.

He said he initially didn’t suspect anything to be amiss when a local father of three went missing during a kayaking trip in August.

"He was just your average small-town sort of guy," said Sullivan.

But in October, law enforcement announced they found evidence that Borgwardt may have faked his death and fled the country.

"Was the community shocked?" I asked Sullivan.

"Is there anybody that wasn't shocked?" Sullivan said. "I think anybody who's heard about this story says, you know every detail you tell them, they're like, 'whoa.' Increasingly like surprised reactions."

Earlier this week, the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Borgwardt returned willingly to the U.S. where he was arrested on a charge of obstructing an officer.

He is now out on bail.

"Do you think the community will welcome him back now that he's here?" I asked Sullivan.

"It'll be interesting to see," Sullivan said. "There's sort of an insularity to Watertown that can be really endearing, but it can also be the sort of thing that maybe, if you're no longer on the inside because you've done something crazy like he's apparently done, then maybe you are no longer somebody that is protected by the insularity."

Since the revelations, Sullivan said he's heard from people all over the world.

"This has become a major international story," Sullivan said. "And a town of 22,000 people, that is not something that happens here pretty regularly."

While Watertown itself is in the spotlight, along with Ryan Borgwardt some people I spoke to in town Thursday were taking it all in stride.

"I think that it doesn't matter where the person is from, whether they're from a big town or small town, it's just, it's about who the person is and not where they're from," said Michael Maszk, who lives in nearby Hartford.

Borgwardt is set to appear in court again for the obstruction charge in January.