DENVER — Officials in Colorado are dismissing growing public opinion that Thursday’s massive search to locate a missing 6-year-old boy believed to be in a runaway helium balloon was a hoax staged by his family.
At a press conference Friday, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said his department plans to re-interview the boy’s parents, Richard and Mayumi Henne, but noted that he still believes their story to be “credible.”
Speculation that the Fort Collins family may have staged the event was raised Thursday night when suspected balloon boy Falcon Heene said during a CNN interview: “We did this for a show.”
“In light of the boy’s statement, we want to clarify that and put it to rest,” said Alderden.
Falcon was found hiding in his family’s attic hours after the balloon landed with no one onboard, sparking fears the child had fallen out of the sky.
“It seems much more likely that the boy was in fact frightened,” said Alderden, whose agency wanted to give the Heenes a day to rest before speaking again. “That seems like a credible story.”
Alderden also disclosed that his office had been in contact with child-protection workers and that an investigation into the Heenes was likely.
While his family has previously appeared on the ABC reality show “Wife Swap,” Richard Heene insisted Friday that the incident wasn’t a publicity stunt.
“I’m starting to get a little ticked off,” he told Meredith Vieira on the Today Show. “I’m repetitively getting asked this. What do I have to gain out of this? I’m not selling anything. I’m not advertising anything. My family and I, we do this all the time.”
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Photo: © ABC
