A sheriff says a Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning this summer and abandoned his wife and three children is in Eastern Europe.

Ryan Borgwardt, a Wisconsin kayaker accused of faking his own drowning and fleeing the country, is alive somewhere in Eastern Europe and has been talking to investigators, officials said. But it’s still unclear whether he will ever return home to his wife and three children.

Authorities are urging a Wisconsin man accused of faking his death and fleeing to Europe to come home to spend the holidays with his wife and three children.Ryan Borgwardt, 45, went missing on Aug. 12 while kayaking in Green Lake,