- yesterday
A shocking look into the infamous Balloon Boy hoax that fooled the world, sparked a media frenzy, and exposed the dark side of fame-hungry parenting.
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00:00My daughter, it wasn't supposed to fly, and it took off.
00:06This is a very unusual situation that is unfolding right now.
00:10It involves a home-built UFO powered by helium.
00:14What the hell's going on?
00:15What is this thing?
00:18My immediate response was, have to be jerking my bomber.
00:21It does have the capability of going 10,000 feet.
00:25It's so bizarre that you want to laugh.
00:27Okay, so what's wrong?
00:30But then all of a sudden, it turns serious.
00:33I think my six-year-old boy got inside.
00:36He's in the air.
00:38Has there ever been a situation like this?
00:41I think that young man's in for a heck of a ride.
00:44Holy cow.
00:45Oh, my God.
00:46The first call that we got to Sky 9 came from the family's home.
00:50That sounds like the Heenies.
00:52Three, two, one.
00:55All I wanted to do was make a really fantastic project for the kids.
00:58But what if my stupid experiment kills my son?
01:07The reality was so hard to accept.
01:12What have we done?
01:13It is like a horrific version of the movie Up.
01:18I couldn't wrap my head around it.
01:20It really was like a science fiction.
01:23The meteor starts digging in.
01:25Who are the Heenies?
01:26They're uncontrollable.
01:27They're just, uh, they're wild.
01:29We just got confirmation that his family had been featured on a reality show last year.
01:34Look at you, man!
01:36This family is crazy.
01:38This dad should be arrested.
01:41Really, really focus on my voice.
01:43The motto at the sheriff's office is, you lie, you die.
01:47We're cutting this thing off, okay?
01:50Fuck those guys.
01:51This is a tight-knit, loving family.
01:54He's at 100 feet.
01:56We all thought that once that balloon came down, this whole thing would be over.
02:02It's supposed to be a fun project.
02:05But it was only just the beginning.
02:08In 2009, we were living in Colorado, and we had moved there from California.
02:30We wanted to chase tornadoes and do a science research project.
02:38I have a very deep passion for things that are unknown.
02:45There we go!
02:46Yeah!
02:48Our Heenie family is very unique.
02:53Yeah, look!
02:54Falcon 6.
02:55They're all scissors.
02:56Reel 8.
02:58And the braffle is 10.
03:00We adventure together, build together.
03:03We like to make sure we chase, like, the thrill.
03:06We're in the middle of, um, Hurricane Gustav.
03:11Whoa!
03:12Damn!
03:13My dad was always making us, like, look up science experiments on YouTube.
03:17There we go!
03:18So we're, like, super interested in, like, UFOs.
03:26We lived across from the Heenie house.
03:27And Richard, just right from the jump, just this big energy, constantly pacing, talking 100 miles an hour.
03:36But he was super smart.
03:38He could build anything.
03:40He could put electrical things together.
03:42I always asked him, he said, are you from MIT or what?
03:45Our bedroom window overlooked the Heenie's backyard.
03:55All right, pull this off.
03:57One time, I looked out the window, and I noticed that he was working on something.
04:02It really did look like a silver disc.
04:05Got it?
04:06Yeah.
04:07Pull!
04:08My husband, Richard, always wanted to build a flying saucer since 1979.
04:16I just thought, what if everybody could be flying around like the Jetsons?
04:23It would be just wonderful.
04:27Everybody could be pulling out of the garage with their own flying saucer, going to school and work,
04:32and you wouldn't have all this traffic.
04:41We started working on a flying saucer that was going to be 20 feet across.
04:45It's six feet tall.
04:51When he said, we're going to try to make a flying saucer,
04:54and we're like, oh, fuck, that's fucking cool.
04:57Okay, Brad, take station A over here.
04:59I've got B.
05:00I think number A.
05:01Here we go.
05:04It took us two weeks to assemble a whole flying saucer.
05:09Here we go.
05:12Pretty cool, huh?
05:13Yeah.
05:14We were hoping to do the Jetsons launch on our anniversary.
05:18The concept is to tether the flying saucer down and let it hover at 20 feet.
05:22Move, you.
05:23And we could observe with the video cameras whether it's going to move left or right or up or down.
05:28Here we go.
05:30What do you guys think, huh?
05:31Yes.
05:31Cool.
05:32Underneath the flying saucer is this compartment.
05:36Look in here.
05:38Can we go inside?
05:39Uh, I don't think that's a good idea.
05:41It was not designed to have people go in it.
05:44It was a compartment that had to have access to put the helium in it.
05:48It was a good idea.
05:49It was a good idea.
05:50My dad would make me video pretty much every experiment.
05:53But at the same time, like, keep my brothers in check.
05:59Falcon was pretty wild and chaotic.
06:02You are inside. Come on, get up.
06:06I don't want to say shit starter, but like, he's like, always getting into stuff.
06:11He'd be touching shit he wasn't supposed to.
06:14He was super interested in like hiding in the bottom of the flying saucer.
06:17So we're going to put this on. I need you to go take care of, um, I need you to tether it down. Okay?
06:39Okay. All right.
06:41My main focus was tie down the flying saucer.
06:44So it's going to be secure.
06:47So I got to start bringing the bottles out.
06:50So we got the helium hose hooked up. It's filling up.
06:54Oh, look at this. It's working. Look at this. Look at this. It's getting poppy.
06:58Yeah, mom. Is this, is this like the best?
07:01Yeah.
07:03I'm like a kid now.
07:05This is the moment. This is the moment we've been waiting for.
07:08Three, two, one.
07:12I pulled the pin.
07:15Whoa!
07:17And I'm watching this. And here's the, here it is. I mean, this is it. At 20 feet.
07:22Are you in the tether?
07:26Get up with the fucking tether now!
07:29I did it! I did it!
07:30I did it!
07:31No. No.
07:33It wasn't 20 feet.
07:35The tether's like snapped.
07:37And it took off.
07:39It keeps going up.
07:41Going up.
07:43I was so fucking pissed.
07:48It was hundreds of dollars.
07:50Gone.
07:51Gone.
07:52As I was recording, I remember looking around and not seeing Falcon.
07:57And I kept trying to tell him that Falcon was in flying saucer.
08:00Tether now, Jesus Christ!
08:03And I was like, super fucking scared. Like, that's my brother.
08:08Like, this shit's taken off and like, there's nothing you can do.
08:11Dead Falcon's in there!
08:12Where?
08:13In this ship!
08:14He was just here!
08:16No, he's in there!
08:18What?
08:19He's in there! I saw him crawl in!
08:20Crawling!
08:21Crawling's not!
08:22Yeah!
08:23He was just right here!
08:24Wait a minute, where is Falcon?
08:27I'm running around the yard.
08:29I go towards the garage.
08:30Falcon!
08:31He's always hiding.
08:32Falcon!
08:33No!
08:34I go inside the house and I'm shouting.
08:36Maybe he went to the bathroom.
08:38I'm running through the living room.
08:39I go upstairs and I'm shouting for him.
08:41Falcon!
08:42And the more we visit, every place he could be in, this is out.
08:48This is out.
08:49This is out.
08:50This is out.
08:53What have we done?
08:56I heard all the screaming and yelling and the chaos in their backyard.
09:01My son Brennan, he ran back and says, Dad, they said Falcon got in the balloon and it took off.
09:08And my heart started to beat through my chest.
09:11I was getting very frantic, you know, and I was like, okay, this cannot be happening.
09:18All I could think about was, oh my God.
09:22The winds were taking us straight to an airport.
09:25He said it's straight for air traffic.
09:27I thought, I've got to call the FAA.
09:30I get on the phone and I told him, I think my son's in this experimental flying saucer.
09:37And then she told me, well, if you've got an emergency, then you need to dial 9-1-1.
09:43So I called 9-1-1.
09:45He's in the air?
09:46Yeah.
09:48When's the last time you saw him?
09:50About 15, 20 minutes ago.
09:52Okay.
09:53How the heck are we going to get him down?
09:55Is somebody there with you?
09:56The operator asked me to get on the phone so she could verify what he was saying to her.
10:05She asked me the same question over and over.
10:08Is it an experimental plane?
10:10Yeah.
10:11Is there a flying saucer?
10:13You hurt him.
10:15Why do I need to explain?
10:17Please put somebody on it.
10:20We got it.
10:21We got to get my phone.
10:23Okay.
10:24Why you don't get it?
10:26I'm sitting in my control car, about to get off duty before going on an elk hunt.
10:38When I started hearing cracklings over the radio of a missing six-year-old boy that supposedly went up in a flying saucer.
10:47And I'm thinking, what in the world's going on here?
10:51So I got to the Haney house as soon as I could.
10:54Richard and Myomi were very distraught.
10:59We conducted a very thorough search of the home.
11:03Not only did we do it a second time, we did it a third time.
11:07Plus there was other people searching for other possibilities of where the child may be.
11:12But I started to have this gut-wrenching thought of, man, this could be really bad.
11:21I'm Kim Christensen.
11:22We'll get to the economy in just a moment.
11:24But first, some breaking news about a very unusual situation.
11:29It involves a child and a home-built aircraft in the shape of a UFO powered by helium.
11:34The child's father actually called our information center in a panic asking if we would launch our helicopter.
11:42The news director told me that we needed to find this flying saucer that has a six-year-old boy in it.
11:51I was just in shock and awe and ran to the airport as fast as I could.
11:56And we take off like crazy flying southeast to try to find this poor little boy in this craft.
12:04We're just out in the middle of nowhere looking for a spot in the sky.
12:08We thought we saw it for a second, I think we're getting back to it.
12:13Tim?
12:14There you are.
12:16There it is.
12:18There you are.
12:19Finally, finally.
12:20There you go.
12:21Sorry guys, it's been a needle in a haystack here.
12:23But we've tracked it now and it's, if you'll be patient with me for a moment, I'll zoom in.
12:28Maybe see the child in here.
12:30When I first see it, it's at like 10,000 feet.
12:34But it's cooking.
12:35It's blowing as fast as the winds will blow it.
12:39Now I'm even more afraid because it's real and all we can do is shoot a picture.
12:45You know, you're watching a NASCAR wreck and there ain't a doggone thing you can do about it.
12:53I am watching the TV when MSNBC breaks into a Barack Obama town hall.
13:01I'm going to ask all three of you to hang on just a minute because we have rather an incredible breaking news story that we're following.
13:07Right now and this is coming.
13:08I thought, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
13:10What's going on here?
13:12And it looks like this Jiffy Pop popcorn type thing floating across the sky.
13:19As a journalist, I am looking at this and I'm thinking you couldn't even make it up.
13:25Vinny, our floor director, was saying he thought he saw a small arm sticking out of there.
13:31It's like this train wreck right in front of you.
13:34It's so horrifying.
13:36And then everybody broke into their programming.
13:37It is like a horrific version of the movie Up that was released.
13:43They saw that the door was unlocked and that when it took off that the boy might...
13:47I'm flipping through the channels and this has gone from a hyperlocal story to ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News.
13:57Incredible drama playing out on live television.
13:59Everyone starts covering this thing.
14:01Yeah, these pictures are coming to us from KUSA.
14:03We're getting them right now on the fly.
14:05This is all live.
14:06There's only one compartment and he's just breathing in helium.
14:09He could get asphyxiated.
14:10The story completely blew up.
14:12We also know that the Colorado National Guard is involved and this is kind of an Apollo 13 situation.
14:26I'm worried, is the kid going to fall out?
14:29Are we going to watch a small child die on national TV?
14:36Police say that Richard Heaney is inside the house right now.
14:39The Larimer County Sheriff's Office is also on hand.
14:43We've seen all the different media vans pull up.
14:47Reporters were walking the neighborhood.
14:50They come up to our house and knock on our door.
14:53Can we get a statement?
14:54No, you can't, you know.
14:57We couldn't afford cable.
14:59So I was in the dark as to what was going on.
15:02But one of the cops told me I got to stay put.
15:04And I'm like, I can't just stand here and do nothing.
15:07I needed to know what the hell was going on.
15:10You know, there was a thousand things going through my mind and I really felt helpless.
15:16Oh my God, what are we going to do?
15:18You know, is he going to be safe?
15:23That's when we received the report of a neighbor claiming she had taken photographs of something fallen from the spaceship.
15:30It isn't the best quality photo and it could be a bird, but we have to assume that there's some credibility to it.
15:51How do you deal with that?
15:54It's like, what if one of my stupid experiments killed my son?
15:57It's clear that helium is leaving at a quicker rate.
16:08He'll be descending more quickly and I don't know how much longer he'll stay in the air.
16:16I'm on this road and Jimmy, the pilot of Sky9, told me that I should be just underneath it at any moment.
16:24When I finally see it, my heart's pumping because it's deflating and I can see that it's deflating and lowering.
16:32And as you can see, it's losing a lot of helium.
16:34But I have no idea how long it's going to be in the air or where it's going.
16:39And I have an eight-year-old son at the time and I just keep thinking about what I would be going through as a dad.
16:46It is clearly losing a tremendous amount of gas.
16:50Yes.
16:51I think he's less than 200 feet off the ground at this point.
16:54He's going down.
16:55He's at 100 feet.
16:56This is ending.
16:59I jump out, grab my camera and I just start running.
17:04He's coming down now.
17:05Here it goes.
17:06Oh yeah.
17:07Yeah, he's coming down now.
17:08Very soft.
17:09Very soft.
17:10Look at that.
17:11Oh my gosh.
17:12As the balloon lands, I'm now the only person on the ground that is live with video.
17:27It's ended and it's ended well and all we need to know is how is little Falcon eating.
17:32And that's all.
17:35The first responders are poking holes in it.
17:37They're searching through it.
17:38They turn it over and they're looking for the door.
17:44And I have to report what's going on.
17:46Find the door.
17:47Brian, what are you seeing on the ground there next to the balloon?
17:51Well, I've got some information that I'm not quite sure how to say it, but I don't believe
18:00I don't believe that they found anybody with this balloon.
18:03Oh my goodness.
18:05Tread.
18:12Apparently KUSA, their photojournalist on the scene is saying that there was nobody in this compartment.
18:18It was gut-wrenching telling the world that there's no boy in this balloon.
18:28I was expecting it to land it.
18:33We found him.
18:34He was safe.
18:40Then where is he?
18:41Did he fall out?
18:42There's no way he would be alive.
18:55The ground search was underway and we were hoping that we would be able to find Falcon somewhere along the flight path.
19:04They had to go back over the whole 55 miles.
19:09We thought, okay, you know, we're getting ready to have a community funeral.
19:27I'm standing in the kitchen.
19:29All of a sudden I started hearing commotion, screaming.
19:34I didn't know what was going on.
19:36I don't know if they had gotten word that I hadn't gotten or what.
19:44At first I couldn't even believe it.
19:47And then look again.
19:50I just remember turning around.
19:52Oh my God.
19:54Falcon!
19:56You're home!
19:57I can still see him in my head.
20:00Little, small, six-year-old falcon standing there.
20:04Richard rushed after him and hug him.
20:08And then we didn't leave him alone anymore.
20:13I couldn't believe it.
20:15It was the greatest surprise I ever had.
20:18I was very confused at the reaction.
20:31I'm just like, hey, mom, I'm hungry.
20:35And then they're just like, freaking out.
20:37And I was like, oh.
20:38He said, why are you guys crying?
20:42Something like that.
20:44I said, man, you really had us worried.
20:47Where the hell were you?
20:49When Falcon tells us where, I couldn't believe it.
20:53Yeah.
20:55I was like, this is so really lucky.
20:57On that day, I was trying to sneak in the flying saucer because, well, it's a flying saucer.
21:04It's really cool.
21:08There's a little compartment there that is perfect for my size.
21:12I wanted to live in there, you know.
21:14Falcon, get out now.
21:16Bear.
21:18What the hell are you doing?
21:20Get out there now.
21:22Once he yelled at me a few times, I was scared.
21:25And I was like, you know what?
21:26I'm just not going to be here.
21:28And then I remember wanting to go inside and just chill out for a bit.
21:33I made my way through the house up to my new hiding spot, the garage attic.
21:40I just chilled there for a while.
21:43And then I got bored, fell asleep.
21:45And then it wasn't until I woke up later that I started hearing weird noises like people or cars maybe.
21:54Then eventually I succumbed to my hunger and boredom.
22:00And then I walked down there and I'm like, holy, there's a lot of people here.
22:05This is crazy.
22:07I literally could not get past all the legs and stuff.
22:10And then one guy's like, who are you?
22:13We have got breaking news tonight.
22:18The child has been found alive.
22:22The six-year-old boy was never in the balloon.
22:25He was in the house.
22:30He was at the house?
22:33You had police searching the entire house and they couldn't find a six-year-old boy?
22:39I know that is a priority each and every time we have a missing child case.
22:47Is search the home, search the home, search the home.
22:51And I had thought we had done it.
22:54I thought we had done it thorough enough.
22:59But obviously we hadn't.
23:00You can just imagine the calls going out from producers saying you need to get to this house right now.
23:14So you have cars flooding this neighborhood and journalists going up to the Heaney's front door and trying to get an interview, but the Heaney's are not talking.
23:26Our press information officer approached me and approached me and said sure if this is bigger than I can handle, would you take it over?
23:37Sometimes the man at the top just has to man up and do it.
23:44Authorities here still don't know for sure whether he was ever inside the balloon, although his brothers who were outdoors...
23:52I met Richard Miomi and the children.
23:55And Richard decided that he wanted to go out and address the media.
24:01I did not want to talk to the press, but they told me if you don't talk to them, give them something, they're going to follow you around for two weeks.
24:08And I thought, oh my fucking God.
24:14I said, well, can you come out with me?
24:19This is Richard, the father, and he's obviously a little intimidated with all of these cameras and stuff.
24:26So I had to transition from all of that crap that just happened.
24:31I tried to have a good composure.
24:34I really, really want to thank the local police department.
24:38But all I wanted to do was turn around and run back in the house.
24:42I want to thank the news helicopters that were helping out.
24:46It was weird because they were wrung out, but they also seemed kind of disconnected.
24:50Okay, any other questions?
24:53We needed our time.
24:55I needed to cherish the time of my son after what just happened.
25:00But people kept pushing me and pushing me and pushing me.
25:03You know, go do this interview, go do that.
25:09So I agreed to this one producer, yeah, fine, I'll do the show for Larry King.
25:15It was set to be in the evening.
25:20Camera guys walked in, sound guys walked in, directors, producers.
25:25I said, Richard, when you go on Larry King, it's worldwide.
25:30It's worldwide.
25:32And he was like, it's okay, we can handle it.
25:36I felt nervous.
25:38My kids were confused.
25:41But I felt a sense of pressure that I had to keep going.
25:44Not only that, it was live television.
25:48I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.
25:54I'm Wolf Glitzer, sitting in for Larry tonight.
25:57Want to go right out to Fort Collins, Colorado.
26:00I don't know if Falcon can hear me, but was he...
26:02Because I know at some point he fell asleep in that garage.
26:05Did he hear you screaming out, Falcon, Falcon?
26:06He's asking Falcon, did you hear us calling your name at any time?
26:12You did?
26:13You did?
26:15Why didn't you come out?
26:17You guys said that we did this for the show.
26:28Man.
26:30No.
26:32Wait, what did he say?
26:33My earpiece was super, super loud.
26:37I got a major hiss and I don't know what he said.
26:41So, I kind of blew it off.
26:43Like, you know, whatever he said.
26:46Our reaction was like, what?
26:50I remember I was shocked when he said, we did this for a show, Falcon.
26:55I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about.
26:57I looked at Dean and I thought, here it goes.
26:59It's going to take a whole new other spin now from that one little comment.
27:05I appreciate it was hard to hear, but I think you did hear him because you say man.
27:10Well, yeah, I mean, I did hear him faintly, but I didn't understand anything he said.
27:16What did he mean we did this for the show?
27:18Um, I have no idea.
27:21I think he was talking about the media.
27:24Been asking him a lot of questions.
27:26He's only six.
27:28Just six years old.
27:29And people read into that whatever fucking thoughts that they wanted to read into.
27:35And after that is when everything blew up.
27:38Did it for a show, everyone's wondering what exactly did he mean?
27:43The family says what he meant to say.
27:49All that money wasted looking for a boy that was naughty.
27:53Get the man.
27:54I mean, I think it's crazy how I was able to just say a single sentence and affect the whole state of the country.
28:02From the ordeal in the air to an ordeal on air.
28:05With one pressing question, was it all an elaborate hoax?
28:08The family are going to get in trouble.
28:14It was like the biggest nightmare ever.
28:17And I'm like, oh my God.
28:22In the morning, we all asked Falcon, what are you talking about?
28:28Falcon said, before the interview happens, so many cameramen was in the garage asking Falcon,
28:35how did he get up in the attic?
28:38Can you show me?
28:41Falcon, that's how you get up and break through that.
28:45I still remember that reporter's face vividly.
28:50I remember his face and I remember him asking me the question.
28:54Could you show me how you go up there for my show?
28:57And I said, yeah, sure.
29:00I do remember going like, oh my God.
29:02I better get on some other show to prove that it was not a publicity stunt.
29:08Richard, Mayumi, Falcon, brothers Bradford and Rio.
29:12You know, the message boards are lit up this morning with skeptics.
29:17Hewitt said, we did this for a show?
29:21There were a lot of cameras out in front of our yard.
29:25And we were, of course, getting interviewed.
29:27Falcon, you okay there?
29:29I think they really thought that it would help them.
29:32Mom, I feel like I'm going to vomit.
29:34Oh.
29:36But then Falcon starts getting sick being on TV.
29:39He doesn't want to do this.
29:41And now it's playing out almost like a circus sideshow.
29:46Should we take you to the bathroom or something?
29:48Yeah.
29:49You would have thought they would have said, well, we're going to go to a commercial.
29:53Well, he gets himself together.
29:54No.
29:56No.
29:57They just went at it.
29:58You know.
29:59Is he okay?
30:00Is somebody going to go with him?
30:01Myomi, do you want to run with him?
30:03That's okay, we'll understand.
30:04Is that okay?
30:05Sure.
30:06Okay.
30:09Falcon's poor little body's upset, distressed, and he's throwing up.
30:13And questions are coming at them.
30:16And I feel like I have to go out and defend them.
30:18They are inventors.
30:21They want that type of attention, not about their babies being lost.
30:25This was not a joke.
30:27So I was, you know, giving them the benefit of the doubt.
30:33The local and national news starts to report on who the Heaney's are.
30:39Richard Heaney claims he's a storm chaser and an inventor.
30:43His kids apparently use foul language a lot.
30:45I mean, there are a lot of things that jump out as red flags.
30:47Richard Heaney says he's chosen to raise his family unafraid of adventure.
30:52Time!
30:54And then you find out that the guy and his wife were on wife swap.
30:59Wait a second.
31:00Did you not sign up to swap lives with another woman?
31:03Did you?
31:04Did you?
31:05Did you?
31:06No, I'm talking.
31:07I asked a question.
31:08Are you getting down?
31:13Are you sitting down?
31:14Are you sitting down?
31:15I was on the TV show wife swap with Richard and Mayumi Heaney.
31:19Ready to go!
31:21It's going to be new adventure.
31:23Yeah!
31:24When I saw the flying saucer on the TV, I thought, I don't know why they were saying the kid was in the balloon, but I knew that he wasn't.
31:36And how did you know that he wasn't?
31:39I'm a psychic.
31:42The bottom line is, you're lazy and you don't want to do a damn thing.
31:46And you suck!
31:48When I saw the balloon, what went through my head was, Richard did this purposely.
31:56That was my first reaction.
31:58He was trying to get attention.
32:01Look at you, man!
32:02Richard, I told you no meat.
32:04Well, you'll be cleaning it up.
32:08But as I got to know Mr. Heaney on the show, I saw that he was a very caring person about his children.
32:16And I just couldn't imagine that he would purposely say that his son was in the balloon.
32:25Ouchie, Mom!
32:27Bye!
32:29Realizing that they had some exposure to television made it possible that emotions that were expressed as this incident unfolded were acting and were not genuine.
32:40Had you ever seen wife swap?
32:41No.
32:43And as you can tell from my attire, I'm kind of into the Western genre.
32:48You know, the values in those early television shows, those are kind of my values.
32:52You know, truth, honesty, the American way.
32:55People were accusing us of being fame-hungry because we were on wife swap, which is completely not true.
33:01I would have never done wife swap in a million years.
33:04It sounded gross to me.
33:06But then they offered to pay us.
33:08And we needed money.
33:13On Friday, there was so much backlash coming in.
33:17And everybody starts criticizing us.
33:19And we needed a way to prove to everybody, yeah, it was a real accidental thing that happened.
33:27And it was very, very dangerous.
33:30And that's why we released those clips.
33:33A Fox News alert and some brand new video just into Fox.
33:37We've got some home video, we're told, that shows the moment that that notorious balloon left the ground.
33:44Look, it's the real project. We didn't make this stuff up.
33:53When I saw that, I thought the emotion that Richard showed seemed so over the top and really playing for a camera.
34:02In the chaos that follows, Richard Heaney doesn't seem to hear his older son, who repeatedly yells, Falcon is in the ship.
34:09That fucking's in there!
34:10Where?!
34:11In the ship!
34:13What?!
34:14It was reality television show acting.
34:16This video is only going to add fuel to the fire, perhaps, that this could, in fact, be a hoax.
34:21The police insisted yesterday, they didn't think it was.
34:23They said that he weren't going to file any charges.
34:25Some of the comments were like, oh, they're faking it.
34:27And I'm like, you've got to be shitting me.
34:29There's no way.
34:31Look at it.
34:32I mean, there wasn't like, you know, some kind of a production.
34:35Put the fucking tether out, Jesus!
34:38What is this?!
34:40I was yelling at him because I was beyond angry.
34:43It was completely 100% real.
34:46And I just thought that, you know, giving these guys clips would solve the issue.
34:49But it didn't.
34:51Come here.
34:53Okay.
34:54See that?
34:56There's light out there.
34:57A lot of light.
34:58Okay?
34:59How are we going to sleep?
35:00Look at this.
35:02I told him no more interviews.
35:04The story's done.
35:05We're done.
35:06But they're still out there.
35:13Mr. Dean, please come up.
35:16Saturday rolls around.
35:17And right around noon, I get a call from, I believe it was Heffernan, stating that I could come down to the sheriff's office and pick up my flying saucer.
35:28So I went down.
35:29I was excited.
35:30Hey, I'm going to get my flying saucer.
35:33And then he says, before I give you your flying saucer, do you mind if I ask you a few questions so we can clear things up?
35:39And he asked me if I wouldn't mind taking a polygraph.
35:41I had no intention of ever releasing the balloon to him at this point.
35:47But I did use that tactic to get his cooperation to come into the sheriff's office.
35:55That was a message I tried to leave him, that, you know, I believed him, that we believed him, that we're on the same side.
36:01What are you actually thinking?
36:02Well, actually, I'm thinking, I'm hoping that we can get him on a polygraph and, you know, get an admission.
36:08I could just imagine you walking out of here today and going up those cameras and giving them the what for and say, hey, guess what?
36:13I took the polygraph and I passed it.
36:17I'm feeling, okay, you know, I'll take the polygraph, I'll pass, I get my flying saucer and I go home.
36:22When you spoke to 911, did you know Falcon was not in the balloon?
36:26No.
36:28Okay.
36:29I got some circulation again.
36:31It was obvious.
36:32Mr. Haney was employing countermeasures.
36:35Okay.
36:36You know, tensing up, not answering questions directly, but having to think of them and doing some mind exercises,
36:43as well as almost comically pretending to fall asleep.
36:48These are the published techniques of things that you can do to try to defeat a polygraph.
36:53Can I stand up a second and I get it?
36:55God, just...
36:56What's up?
36:57No, I'm just dozing off.
36:58Okay.
37:00I'm really tired.
37:01I believe it was something like 50, 54 hours I hadn't slept.
37:05Take some deep breaths.
37:09Good.
37:10And I've been a diabetic since I was 15 years old.
37:13So, I prick my finger, I test myself, and my blood sugar has skyrocketed.
37:21Okay, Richard, you are going to have to focus and concentrate.
37:25And then, uh, he gets upset.
37:28So, really, really focus on keeping your eyes open.
37:32And I don't know why he's upset.
37:34I'm answering everything truthfully, everything that he asked me.
37:38The polygraph was inconclusive.
37:39It couldn't get a reading because of the countermeasures that he employed.
37:43Excuse me, please.
37:45So, now we transition to Myomi.
37:48Okay, great.
37:53Myomi's brought into the sheriff's office, and we're going to try to give her a polygraph.
37:58And keep in mind, we're talking to Richard too, so we're getting both stories, okay?
38:05After the polygraph, Bob Haffernum said, your polygraph was failed.
38:11And, uh, I said, really?
38:14I wish, uh, I really wish, uh, one of us can stay with the kids, but, uh, it may not happen.
38:24She was tearful and proceeded to tell me that, yes, this was a hoax, and she was, in fact, making a confession.
38:34Did you guys build this for the purpose of this hoax? Is that the whole purpose of building it?
38:40Um, honestly, this, uh, uh, experiment itself is not only for this.
38:47Back then, my English was worse, and the word hoax itself, I misunderstood.
38:55This was all a hoax, okay?
38:59She had a degree in English from Japan.
39:02Went to three more years of college in the United States.
39:05There was not a language barrier.
39:07They're finally saying, yeah, we lied.
39:11And the reason it was a hoax is we were just trying to make ourselves, ourselves marketable.
39:16I also learned that the Haney's had been working very hard to try to get themselves a TV show.
39:23It would be helpful if they ended up in the news or got their name out there somewhere.
39:28And I think that's what their motivation was for this whole hoax.
39:32That makes no sense.
39:34Why would I even consider doing something that's going to turn on me, potentially sending me to jail?
39:41Like, like, how am I going to get a TV show doing that?
39:43Did you tell the boys what you were doing?
39:50Okay, and how'd you get them to go along with it?
39:52Did you just ask them to act like their brother got up in the balloon?
39:56Did you just ask them to act like that?
40:07After her interview, I had enough to proceed with criminal charges.
40:13Last night, police seized evidence from the Haney home.
40:25And of the four charges the department hopes to file over the next few days,
40:28two are class four felonies, which carry up to six years of jail time and $500,000 in fines.
40:35We go from Thursday being an emergency situation to Sunday.
40:42Now we're wanted felons.
40:47And a woman approached me and gave me a number and said,
40:51you should call this attorney.
40:53His name is David Lane.
40:57It's the Sunday after the incident and they came in from Fort Collins.
41:01It was very clear that Richard and Mayumi loved those kids with all their hearts and souls.
41:10Mayumi's English was, was not good.
41:13Um, so we were explaining words to her, like hoax and fraud.
41:20You assumed he was in the attic?
41:22No, no, I didn't.
41:23And then I saw the video of Mayumi's so-called confession.
41:28It really wasn't a confession.
41:29Where was Falcon? Was Falcon in the attic?
41:32Um, which I really didn't know.
41:35When you're dealing with someone without a good grasp of the language,
41:38these leading questions are pretty much guaranteed to get false statements out of a suspect.
41:45And you knew that he was somewhere in the house, but you didn't know he was up in the attic?
41:50I told David Lane, I said, I am not confessing to these charges. No way.
41:58He said, before you do anything, what you got to do is go look into the case of Tim Masters.
42:05Tim Masters is innocent.
42:07I represented Tim Masters in a lawsuit against the prosecutors in Larimer County for a murder he didn't commit.
42:16Masters was convicted of killing a woman whose body had been found near his home.
42:20His attorneys claimed prosecutors withheld crucial evidence from the defense, an allegation the district attorney denies.
42:26I was thinking, these cops are corrupt. He was falsely imprisoned for 10 years. And I'm like, oh, I'm not going through this.
42:37I thought, there's a good chance they're getting screwed by the system here. All work pro bono, and we can work out details later, and I'll jump in and see what I can do.
42:48David Lane's known throughout Colorado for being anti-police. I can tell you for a fact, the Larimer County Sheriff's Office is not corrupt, nor was the Fort Collins Police Department, nor was the judicial system in Larimer County.
42:59They were interested in getting convictions. And when you have a media frenzy like you had here, it could result in an injustice for Richard and his family.
43:11Until I can look at what the evidence is in this case, you know, we're left in the dark in terms of what the sheriff's department claims they've got.
43:21I don't think a whole lot of David Lane. He's a media whore.
43:24I didn't think they had anything. Then the DA comes to us with this so-called deal. They said, Richard, we want you to take a felony conviction. We want you to agree to 30 days in jail.
43:42If you do that, Mayumi can plead to a misdemeanor that will not cause her to be deported back to Japan.
43:49And I'm thinking to myself, you motherfuckers, you're going to, you're threatening to deport the kid's mom, you know, over this? What the hell's wrong with you people?
44:00If I try to fight in the court and if I lose it, I might need to leave the country. And then, which means I won't be able to see kids. I won't be able to see Richard.
44:24Nothing like that ever came from my office. And knowing the district attorney, as I do, is highly inconceivable that they would have pressured them to accept a plea deal.
44:38So here we're facing all these felonies and misdemeanors that could result in Mayumi getting deported. It could result in our children being taken away. I go to jail. What the hell are we going to do?
44:54So we go to court and I told David, I am not going to plead guilty. Why can't I fight this? He goes, well, you can. And I could probably win.
45:09But your wife, you need to think about her. And I'm like, I can't plead guilty.
45:16Good morning, Your Honor. How do you plead? Guilty. Mr. Lane, I read the file.
45:31But then I thought, you know what? I just need this over and done with as fast as possible. We got to push this aside so we can get on with our lives.
45:38Richard and Mayumi Heaney, the couple behind the now infamous balloon boy hoax. Well, they now know their fate.
45:45Richard Heaney will spend 30 days in jail. His wife received a 20-day sentence. She will sign in at the jail each day, but then go out to perform community service.
45:55Richard took one for the family. I'm a crier. Sorry. This really brings some tears to my eyes.
46:05Why is that? It's just so unfair.
46:12The motto at the sheriff's office is, you lie, you die. There are no second chances.
46:20When my dad went to jail, it really hit me. In a way, kind of my fault. Because I overreacted a ton.
46:29I kept telling him that Falcon was in there, because I believed he was actually in there.
46:35And he wasn't.
46:39I remember feeling bad that I did something wrong.
46:43But just looking back on it now, it's like, I was six years old.
46:49And all these adults took whatever I said, and they were able to string together what they thought was something else.
46:57And make it so, so big. It's like, it's baffling.
47:01I finished my jail time. I'm done. I finish it. And I called my probation officer. And I'm like, I want to move.
47:14There's just too much attention. It's too much.
47:18I mean, there were neighbors. There was the press.
47:21I wanted all those fucking people just to go away.
47:26And so we left.
47:29I had to get out of school. I had to stop seeing my friends.
47:33And that, like, really makes me mad. Like, how did this happen? You know?
47:39The last time we saw the Heaney's was just prior to them going away.
47:47I knocked on the door. We didn't answer the door.
47:51We tried to talk to the boys. The boys would say, hi, we can't talk to you anymore.
47:55It felt very hurtful at that point. I had my mind said that it was a hoax.
48:01It's kind of crazy to imagine that this is where he was.
48:04Then he fell asleep. Richard pulled on the heartstrings of our family.
48:10He pulled on the heartstrings of a nation. He pulled on the heartstrings of a world.
48:15That was so unfair. So unfair for somebody to do that.
48:19Richard just played us all.
48:23I think everybody has a belief system, and they like to say, this is who someone is.
48:31But people like Richard are not regular people. They're complicated.
48:39So if you think you know him, you probably don't.
48:49After this whole incident, we came to Florida.
48:52And start a new life.
48:55We found this place, and this place feels like a fortress.
49:01It's a place where you can hide and just forget about what happened.
49:05To get pardoned makes a statement, and that, you know, I'm a good person.
49:21Everything that you said about me before was not true.
49:24That's how I feel about it.
49:25This one, we got a cut right here.
49:28I was surprised that the governor pardoned them without reaching out to us in law enforcement or anybody that had been involved.
49:35The thing that upset me is that he did it without having Richard make any sort of admission as to his guilt.
49:41We want the water to flow the whole span of the 20th.
49:43After the pardon, I became a U.S. citizen officially.
49:49And now I don't need to worry about being separated from kids and my husband.
49:55Guys, I want to see what this looks like. Seriously.
49:58With the flying saucer coming to an end, it's kind of a sad story because I loved it.
50:04But that doesn't hold me back.
50:06All right.
50:08I like it.
50:09I'm working on something new.
50:11And it's going to be really big.
50:14Really?
50:16Yeah.
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