Sheriff: No Indication Of Hoax After Balloon Boy Found Safe
Posted October 16, 2009 7:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A boy thought to be floating high above Colorado in a homemade balloon was instead found safe and sound in his family’s garage on Thursday.
Initial relief at his good fortune quickly turned to suspicion: was Falcon Heene’s plight nothing more than a media stunt?
The six-year-old was asked by CNN if he heard people calling his name while they looked for him. He said he did.
When asked why he didn’t come out, he responded, “you guys said that we did this for a show.”
On Friday, a Colorado sheriff said there was no indication that the family carried out a hoax. The official said that the family appeared exhausted and wouldn’t be questioned further on Friday.
Instead, investigators will speak to the family again on Saturday.
The boy’s father Richard said that Falcon often hid if he feared he was going to be punished for misbehaving.
Colorado’s Air National Guard – not to mention several news helicopters – followed the flight of the wayward balloon for an hour and a half.
It made headlines across the United States and around the world, with millions of people tuning in to watch the silver blimp climb higher and higher.
It traveled roughly 80 kilometres – including a trip over the Rocky Mountains – before landing in a field.
When it finally came down, Falcon wasn’t inside. That prompted a massive search that lasted several more hours.
It turned out that he had never been in the balloon to begin with.
Officials in the state don’t believe it was a hoax, but they are continuing to investigate.
Richard, a retired weatherman, his wife, Mayumi, and their three sons appeared on the 100th episode of the reality television show, Wife Swap.
The ABC website describes them as a “storm-chasing, science-obsessed” family.
“When the Heene family aren’t chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm,” it reads.
