Colorado Balloon Family Bristles Skeptics
Richard Heene: Suggestion That Falcon's Disappearance Was a Hoax Is 'Pathetic'
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN and SARAH NETTER
Oct. 16, 2009 —

The parents of the 6-year-old Colorado boy who was at one time believed to have been soaring across Colorado in a "homemade flying saucer" continue to face questions about whether the entire incident was a publicity stunt.

"To have people say that, I think, is extremely pathetic," Richard Heene told "Good Morning America" today, his arm wrapped around son Falcon. "We were holding on to every second, every second, just hoping he might come out OK."

Falcon was found hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage more than two hours after the balloon-like aircraft launched from the family's Fort Collins, Colo. backyard and soared across Colorado.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said investigators had initially believed that the family was telling the truth, based on their interviews and body language.

"They were completely convinced this was the real deal and not a hoax," he said.

But skepticism about the incident was fueled, in large part, by the family's appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday night in which Falcon said "we did this for a show."

Toward the end of a lengthy interview, guest host Wolf Blitzer asked Richard Heene to ask his son, who could not hear Blitzer, what he meant by the comment. Heene briefly suggested Falcon might have been talking about the family's two appearances on the ABC reality show, "Wife Swap."

"Certainly, that statement that was made last night on the interview raises the questions again," Alderden said. "We do intend to go back and try and re-interview the family."

On "Good Morning America" today, Heene again defended himself and his family and said they were truly concerned they had lost their little boy.

"I'm not selling anything. This is what we do all the time," he said. "I don't have a can of beans I'm trying to promote. This is just another day in the life of what we do."

Boy Said He Feared Getting in Trouble for Messing With Father's Aircraft

Falcon said little during the family's "GMA" appearance, briefly running off camera to vomit several times, a side effect of his asthma, Heene explained.

But his older brother, Brad, who initially alerted his parents that he thought his younger brother might have been in the balloon, said that he was "really scared" and feared Falcon might be electrocuted if the balloon hit power lines.

Home video released by the family shows Richard Heene visibly upset as the balloon lifted into the air, its tethers not properly secured. Then, the family said, they learned it might have had precious cargo.

"I just saw him go under the flying saucer," Brad said. "I saw him go under it and the door shut."

Heene and law enforcement officials told reporters Thursday that Falcon had retreated to his hiding space after his father scolded him for fiddling with the experimental aircraft tethered in the family yard.

"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon told reporters. "That's why I went in the attic."

"I'm really sorry I yelled at him," Richard Heene said, standing with his wife and three sons. "He scared the heck out of us."

Richard Heene Said Aircraft Meant for Commuter Travel Someday

Heene, a former weatherman, said he built the 20-foot-long, dome-shaped aircraft for commuter travel.

"We were working on an experimental craft -- I call it the 3D LAV, a low-altitude vehicle for people to pull out of their garage and hover above traffic for about 50 to 100 feet," Heene said later. "It's still the very early stages of the invention."

As millions of other people watched live video footage of the balloon on TV, many of them thinking Falcon was inside, the aircraft appeared to visibly deflate, spin and rock from side to side. When it landed near the Denver airport, sheriff's officials tethered it to the ground and cut it with sharp tools to deflate it.

But they reported no sign of the boy or a box that had been attached to the balloon.

Believing Falcon may have fallen out of the aircraft, investigators searched a miles-wide area looking for him.

Volunteers walked through the treeline near the family's home, calling out the boy's name.

"Falcon is a great kid, very adventurous, and has no fear factor," neighbor Tina Sanchez said. "For him to climb into this balloon would not be out of character."

ABC News' Michael James and Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures
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Let me make myself more clear.  At this point since the crime has already happened the options on what to do are limited.  What I was originally referring to is that in alot of these situations you find out afterwards that the parents just did not take an active role in the child's upbringing.  Either being they are never around, or never really "punish" their child when they do something bad.  IMO opinon what should happen now is a little it of what everyone said. 

They definitely need psychiatric help.  But at 15 they also know the difference between right and wrong (atleast I know I did).  They should be locked up for a  a good amount of years, but I would say not in a prison, they need intensive treatment for a long time.

May not be a total solution, but it would help.

Yeah I havent been too active in this, but I cant believe I'm dead last.

Batman.  I recently played all the Sonic games on Xbox Live, they havent aged well.