Ten years ago, Colorado’s “Balloon Boy” captured the world’s attention
Ten years ago, the eyes of the world were fixed on Colorado’s skies and a silver, flying-saucer-shaped balloon.
It was feared that 6-year-old Falcon Heene, since dubbed “Balloon Boy,” had stowed away on the homemade airship before it slipped its moorings and floated off.
The Oct. 15, 2009 saga turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by the boy’s parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, who sought to drum up publicity for a possible reality show.
In addition to a massive response by law enforcement and other emergency responders, the balloon briefly forced some planes to switch to a different runway for takeoff from the Denver airport.
A closer look at the Balloon Boy incident. The press and the police said it was a publicity stunt to make the family more marketable for future reality TV shows. But Richard Heene always claimed that it was just an accident. Tonight on Unsolved Internet Mysteries we crack the case.
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On the day in question, the couple made frantic calls to authorities, saying they feared Falcon might be aboard a homemade balloon that had escaped from their backyard in suburban Fort Collins. That triggered a frenzied response by emergency crews before the balloon landed in a dusty farm field without the boy inside. The Heenes said they later found Falcon hiding at home.
Relief soon turned to suspicion. During a live interview on CNN hours after the balloon chase, Falcon looked to his father and said, “You had said that we did this for a show.”
Richard Heene, 48, denied the saga was a publicity stunt. Two days later, deputies questioned both parents separately, and authorities said Mayumi Heene admitted the incident was a hoax.
According to an affidavit, Mayumi Heene told an investigator the couple devised the hoax two weeks before the flight “to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest.” She said they built the balloon specifically for that purpose.
Mayumi Heene, 45, also said she and her husband had instructed their three children to lie to authorities and the media, the affidavit said.
The Heenes had twice appeared on the ABC reality show “Wife Swap.” Former business partners said Richard Heene wanted a show of his own called “The Science Detectives” or “The Psyience Detectives.”
Richard Heene pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant. Heene’s wife, Mayumi, a Japanese citizen who could be deported if convicted of more serious charges, pleaded guilty to false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor.
The Heenes moved to Florida in 2010.