The balloon moments after landing in Colorado. Inset: Falcon Heene.
FORT COLLINS, Colorado - A 6-year-old boy was found hiding in a cardboard box in his family's garage Thursday after being feared aboard a homemade helium balloon that hurtled 50 miles (80 kilometers) through the sky on live television.
The discovery marked a bizarre end to a saga that started when the giant silvery balloon floated away from the family's yard Thursday morning, sparking a frantic rescue operation that involved military helicopters and briefly halted some departures from Denver International Airport.
Then, more than two hours after the balloon gently touched down in a field with no sign of the boy, Sheriff Jim Alderden turned to reporters during a news conference, gave a thumbs up and said 6-year-old Falcon Heene was "at the house."
"Apparently he's been there the whole time," he said.
The boy's father, Richard Heene, said the family was tinkering with the balloon Thursday and that he scolded Falcon for getting inside a compartment on the craft.
He said Falcon's brother saw him inside the compartment and that's why they thought he was aboard the balloon when it launched.
But the boy had fled to the garage, climbing a pole into the rafters and hiding in a cardboard box, at some point after the scolding. He was never in the balloon during its two-hour, 50-mile (80-kilometer) journey through two counties. "I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," Heene said, choking up and hugging Falcon to him during a news conference.
"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."
Heene said the balloon wasn't tethered properly, and "it was a mishap. I'm not going to lay blame on anybody."
The boys' parents are storm chasers who appeared twice in the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," most recently in March.
Richard Heene adamantly denied the notion that the whole thing was a big publicity stunt. "That's horrible after the crap we just went through. No."
During a live interview with CNN, Falcon said he had heard his family calling his name.
"You did?" Mayumi Heene said.
"Why didn't you come out?" Richard Heene said.
Falcon answered, "You had said that we did this for a show."
Later, Richard Heene bristled when the family was asked to clarify and said he didn't know what his son meant. He didn't ask his son what he meant by "a show."
The sheriff said he would meet with investigators on Friday to see if the case warranted further investigation.
"As this point there's no indication that this was a hoax," Alderden said.
The flying saucer-like craft tipped precariously at times before gliding to the ground in a dirt field 12 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of Denver International Airport. Sheriff's deputies secured it to keep it in place, tossing shovelfuls of dirt on one edge.
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