The Franklin Files

Franklin · Senior Member

6-year-old boy floats away in hot-air balloon - Updated - Boy Found In Attic

The Phantom · Senior Member

I'm glad the boy was okay, but WHY didn't he come down out of the attic. His parents could have had a heart attack.

Love,
Darron

Franklin · Senior Member

FORT COLLINS, COLO.–By all accounts, Richard Heene is an unapologetic self-promoter who would pursue all sorts of off-the-wall stunts to get media attention. Flying saucers, mountaintop helicopter stunts, storm chasing, reality TV shows – no gag was beyond his limits.

But would he go so far as to hide his 6-year-old son in the rafters of his garage for five hours and make it seem like the boy floated away in a helium balloon?

It was a question being asked everywhere Friday, one day after the balloon drama unfolded live on TV during a frenzied search before little Falcon Heene was found.

The sheriff's office said it does not believe at this point the balloon episode was a stunt, but investigators planned to question the family again Saturday. Richard Heene denies this was a hoax.

Doubts surfaced after a series of bizarre TV interviews, including one on CNN in which Falcon Heene told his parents, "You said we did this for a show," when asked why he did not come down from the garage rafters during the search. The family made the rounds on the morning talk shows Friday, and Falcon threw up during two separate interviews when asked why he hid.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden admitted that Falcon's comments on CNN had "raised everybody's level of skepticism."

Alderden said the family seemed genuine during the panic, and he believed events could have unfolded just as they described: Falcon got frightened when his father scolded him for playing inside the balloon, and hid in the garage out of fear.

The sheriff was asked about the sequence of events when the Heenes reported their child's disappearance. The Heenes called the FAA first, followed by a local TV station with a news helicopter, and then dialled 911.

It was not the first time someone from the Heenes' home has dialled 911. A sheriff's deputy responded to a 911 hang-up in February at the home, hearing a man yelling and noticied Heene's wife, Mayumi, had a mark on her cheek and broken blood vessels in her eye. She said it was because of a problem with her contacts. The husband and wife said nothing had happened, and the deputy concluded he did not have probable cause for an arrest.

Richard Heene's actions have drawn scrutiny before. He has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and a contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.

He and his family appeared on the reality show Wife Swap, receiving no more than a few thousand dollars for each show, according to a person familiar with the production who asked for anonymity.

In addition, the producer of Wife Swap said there had been a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. The producer did not provide specifics.

Barb Slusser Adams, who along with Heene and another man worked on a proposed show called The Science Detectives, said she became used to his relentless attempts to get media attention for the show, which never aired.

Slusser said one of Heene's publicity ideas involved going to the top of a mountain with her and an associate and a "helicopter would come by and strafe us or whatever."

On Friday, dozens of journalists parked in front of the family home. One of the boys, Ryo, would occasionally crack open the front door and tell journalists the family was not talking. "My dad said he's tired of this show."

Franklin · Senior Member

The Larimer County, Colorado sheriff said Saturday charges will be filed in the saga of the boy who was believed to be in balloon that was aloft for more than two hours on Thursday.

Officials did not elaborate as to the nature of the charges.

Six-year-old Falcon Heene hid in a garage at his Fort Collins home while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a helium balloon.

Investigators from sheriff's office interviewed Falcon's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene again on Saturday.

Doubts over the Heenes' story surfaced after a CNN interview in which Falcon told his parents "you said we did this for a show" after his father asked why he did not come down from the rafters during the search Thursday.

Then Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews when asked why he hid. Richard Heene promised a "big announcement" Saturday, but then did an about-face, telling reporters that they should leave questions in a cardboard box on the front doorstep.

The storm-chasing inventor continues to deny the incident was a hoax.

Franklin · Senior Member

FORT COLLINS, CO -- The story that a little boy had floated away in a giant helium balloon was a hoax concocted to land a reality television show, authorities said Sunday, and the boy's parents will likely face felony charges.

The stunt two weeks in the planning was a marketing ploy by Richard and Mayumi Heene, who met in acting school in Hollywood and have appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said.

The Heenes have reportedly been working on a reality TV deal in Los Angeles.

Investigators are examining the possibility of other conspirators, "including the possibility that even some of the media outlets may have had some knowledge about this," Alderden said.

Documents show that a media outlet has agreed to pay money to the Heenes with regards to the balloon incident, Alderden said.

He didn't name the media outlet, but said it was a show that blurs "the line between entertainment and news."