- Credits
- 54,501
A 6-year-old boy, who was feared adrift in a wayward homemade helium balloon, was found safe in his home after a massive search Thursday afternoon.
The discovery ended a nerve-racking four-hour chase and hunt that began because authorities and family members believed that Falcon Heene accidentally lifted off in the family's silver saucer-shaped weather balloon when it became untethered from their Fort Collins back yard.
Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide watched on live TV and on the Internet as helicopter cameras tracked the balloon as it floated thousands of feet above rural Colorado before it softly crashed in a plowed field.
Swarming deputies soon reported that the boy was not on board.
"Be advised it's empty ... It's empty," an official announced on the Larimer County dispatcher radio.
That prompted a massive ground search, with law enforcement agencies retracing the balloon's path in an effort to try and locate the missing boy.
Then, just after 4 p.m., a stunning announcement from the Larimer County sheriff.
"He's at the house and he's fine," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told a throng of TV cameras and reporters. "He's been hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage."
The sheriff said it's not unusual to have missing children hide.
"They see all the commotion, they hear people looking for them, they get afraid that they're going to be in trouble, so they hide," he said. "I can't tell you how many times this has happened over the course of my career."
more here
yeah, have your kid go missing in a balloon and you will become popular. Then you find out it's a hoax. What a mess up thing.
The discovery ended a nerve-racking four-hour chase and hunt that began because authorities and family members believed that Falcon Heene accidentally lifted off in the family's silver saucer-shaped weather balloon when it became untethered from their Fort Collins back yard.
Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide watched on live TV and on the Internet as helicopter cameras tracked the balloon as it floated thousands of feet above rural Colorado before it softly crashed in a plowed field.
Swarming deputies soon reported that the boy was not on board.
"Be advised it's empty ... It's empty," an official announced on the Larimer County dispatcher radio.
That prompted a massive ground search, with law enforcement agencies retracing the balloon's path in an effort to try and locate the missing boy.
Then, just after 4 p.m., a stunning announcement from the Larimer County sheriff.
"He's at the house and he's fine," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told a throng of TV cameras and reporters. "He's been hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage."
The sheriff said it's not unusual to have missing children hide.
"They see all the commotion, they hear people looking for them, they get afraid that they're going to be in trouble, so they hide," he said. "I can't tell you how many times this has happened over the course of my career."
more here
yeah, have your kid go missing in a balloon and you will become popular. Then you find out it's a hoax. What a mess up thing.
