Court documents say the mother of a six-year-old U.S. state of Coloradoboy who was once feared missing inside a runaway balloon has admittedthe whole incident was a hoax.
According to a newly-releasedaffidavit made public Friday, Mayumi Heene told investigators she andher husband, Richard Heene, fabricated the story about their son,Falcon, to make the family more marketable for future media interest.
Infrantic calls to a television station, 911 emergency center and federalaviation officials, the Heenes reported that they feared Falcon wasinside the homemade, saucer-like balloon when it was accidentallylaunched from their backyard on October 15.
Television imagesshowed the silver helium balloon soaring through the Colorado skies andlater landing in a field, where ground crews looked inside but found nosign of the boy. Falcon turned up at his home inside a garage attic,where he had been hiding the entire time.
Suspicion about thefamily's story intensified when Falcon made a comment on CNN thatsounded like, "You had said we did this for a show."
Theaffidavit released Friday says Mayumi Heene told investigators that sheand Richard Heene devised the hoax about two weeks earlier and that theexperimental flying saucer was specifically made to carry out the hoax.
The document also says the parents had instructed their three children to lie to authorities and to the media about the hoax.
Policerecently said the alert about the boy being carried off by the balloonwas a publicity stunt. The parents are likely to face several criminalcharges, including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of aminor, attempting to influence a public servant and making a falsereport. Authorities say federal charges may also be brought.
The parents currently are not under arrest.