Balloon Boy Dad: "Absolutely No Hoax"

Last Updated 12:48 p.m. ET

The father at the center of the "Balloon Boy" controversy reiterated this morning that the reported disappearance of his 6-year-old son aboard a helium balloon in the skies over Colorado was not a hoax.

A crowd of reporters and others gathered in front of the Heene family's house in Fort Collins, after Richard Heene promised to make a "big announcement" at 10 a.m. Mountain time. But the announcement did not materialize.

When Heene appeared, he instead simply displayed a box into which he invited the media to submit questions, to be answered this evening.

Richard Heene has dismissed allegations of a hoax as "extremely pathetic." Yet doubts surfaced after a CNN interview in which Falcon Heene told his parents "you said we did this for a show" after his father asked why he did not come down from his hiding place during a search of the house Thursday.

The family made the rounds on morning talk shows Friday, including CBS' "Early Show," where . Falcon when asked why he hid.

"Friends are telling me they're saying this and that," he said this morning about the allegations. "I have no idea what the news is saying - I don't have cable. Okay?"

"Can we just ask our questions at all?" said one of the reporters assembled.

"No. Not at all," he replied.

When a reporter asked, "Would you just say once and for all, was this some sort of publicity stunt? Was this a hoax? And will you talk to the police today?"

"Absolutely no hoax," was Heene's reply. "I want your questions in the box. I'll get right back to you. Okay?"

The family has been in the news since Thursday when the balloon Heene had in his backyard broke free of its tethers. Richard and Mayumi Heene reported their son, 6-year-old Falcon, was on board.

That set off a frantic search that included law enforcement agencies, the Colorado Air National Guard and TV helicopters. The balloon landed in a field about 50 miles from Fort Collins and no
one was on board.

Sheriff's investigators found the boy in the rafters of his family's garage where he said he hid because he thought he was in trouble.

Outside the house this morning, a crowd gathered including two young men holding signs and occasionally yelling, "balloon boy." One sign read "Put balloon boy on TV: America's Most Wanted." The other read, "10/15/09. We will never forget."

A man pulled a red wagon with coffee for sale. The sign had $2 scratched out with a new price of $1.

Police Want to Re-Interview Family

Sheriff's investigators hoped to talk to Richard and Mayumi Heene again Saturday to resolve lingering questions over whether the drama — with military helicopters scrambling to catch up to the helium balloon and rescue the boy supposedly inside — could have been a hoax.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden acknowledged that Falcon's comments on CNN had clearly "raised everybody's level of skepticism." But, he said, investigators had no reason to believe the whole thing was a hoax.

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 said his office has been flooded with calls and e-mails about the matter. He added that officials "have to operate on what we can prove as a fact and not what people want to be done."

The Heenes say that when they couldn't find Falcon, they called the Federal Aviation Administration, then a local TV station with a news helicopter, and then dialed 911. The sheriff said the TV station call made sense because the helicopter could have provided immediate assistance.

In the 911 call, the boy's mother, Mayumi Heene, told a dispatcher in a panicked voice that her child was in "a flying saucer." She sobbed and said, "We've got to get my son."

It was not the first time someone from the Heenes' home has dialed 911. A Colorado sheriff's deputy responded to a 911 hang-up in February at the home, hearing a man yelling and noticing Mayumi Heene had a mark on her cheek and broken blood vessels in her left eye. She said it was because of a problem with her contacts.

Richard Heene said he was yelling because his children stayed up past their bedtime. The husband and wife said nothing had happened, and the deputy concluded he did not have probable cause to make an arrest.

If the balloon ordeal was a hoax, the parents could be charged with making a false report to authorities, a low-level misdemeanor, Alderden said.

He said authorities would need to bring a criminal case before attempting to recoup costs for the thousands of dollars spent on aerial and ground searches for the boy. Officials rerouted planes around the balloon's flight path and briefly shut down Denver International Airport.

Deputies searched the family's home but didn't look in the attic because they didn't think it was possible Falcon could climb up there, Alderden said.

While the balloon was in the air, the sheriff's department reached out to a university professor who determined that a balloon of that size could probably handle a payload of about 80 pounds, Alderden said. Falcon weighs about 37 pounds.

The balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off Thursday. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the silvery craft into the air.

"Whoa!" one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, "Oh, my God!" He then says to someone, "You didn't put the (expletive) tether down!" And he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.

Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.

He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," receiving no more than a few thousand dollars for each show, according to a person familiar with the production. The person requested anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak publicly.

In addition, the producer of "Wife Swap" said that it had a show in development with the Heenes but that the deal is now off. The producer did not provide specifics. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.

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 program, which never aired. Heene described the show on his MySpace page as a documentary series "to investigate the mysteries of science."

Slusser said one of Heene's publicity ideas involved going at dawn to the top of a mountain with her and an associate from the show. They would be clad in black attire similar to that worn by characters in the "Matrix" movies, "and the helicopter would come by and strafe us or whatever," Slusser said. She and the associate said "absolutely not."

Slusser said Heene approached ABC to be on "Wife Swap" in an attempt to promote "The Science Detectives." She said Heene included her in his pitch to be on "Wife Swap" without her knowledge, describing her as a family friend who could be on the show.

Actor-comedian Perry Caravello said he met Heene back in the early 1990s, when Heene was struggling in Hollywood. Caravello said Heene rented out a room at the Comedy Store, and he and a handful of comedians performed, but that the event was a "total bomb."

The two worked on a couple of construction jobs before Heene approached Caravello about storm chasing. "He wanted to ride a motorcycle into the middle of a tornado. It was stupid, out-of-the-world stuff."

Maj. Justin Smith of the sheriff's office said social workers have been asked to get involved because of concerns about the family's storm chasing. He said authorities want to make sure the children are in a healthy environment.

The sheriff said investigators asked social workers to wait to talk with the Heenes until the family talks to authorities again.

On Friday, two of the Heene boys could be seen playing in the backyard and peeking through windows at reporters on the street. One of the boys, Ryo, would occasionally crack open the door and tell journalists that the family was not talking today.

"My dad said he's tired of this show," the boy said.