Where is Balloon Boy now? New Netflix doc revisits the media frenzy

First of all – Balloon Boy is not the same thing as Bubble Boy. The latter is a hilarious 1992 Seinfeld Episode (and a Jake Gyllenhaal 2001 vehicle not so hilarious). The first, however, could be funny retrospectively, but it was certainly not at the time.

On October 15, 2009, the world watched with horror a homemade ball designed to look like a flying saucer climb on Fort Collins, Colorado. According to Richard and Mayumi Heene, who released the ball, their 6 -year -old son, Falcon, was inside. The ball was finally going to plant, which spent problems for the vulnerable child.

But the story did not play as they feared. Instead, he threw a light on a particular family and inspired debates on fame in the emerging days of online virality.

Now, more than 15 years later, Netflix revisits the incident with Trainwreck: Balloon BoyA new documentary produced by Gillian Pachter. The film presents new interviews with Richard, Mayumi, Falcon and others who knew the Heene family.

Read the rest while we unpack the alleged hoax, the strange history of Richard and where the “Balloon Boy” is now.

What was the controversy of Balloon Boy?

According to the Heene family, they only launched the ball to learn after the fact that their 6 -year -old son, Falcon, had climbed inside. Although Richard later called 911 on his son potentially in the profession, the New York Times reported that he had first called Kusa-TV, an affiliate of Denver NBC, asking if they could send a news helicopter.

Local and national media quickly resumed history while the ball traveled dozens of miles More than 90 minutes, the authorities believing that it has reached an altitude of up to 7,000 feet, according to CNN. The Sheriffs of Colorado and the National Guard were involved in rescue efforts, and commercial flights were diverted while the profession approached a farm north of Denver International Airport, according to the Denver Post.

But when the rescue teams approached the shot down, Falcan was not found.

The boy had apparently hidden in the attic of the family garage all the time. This surprised the deputies of the local sheriff who had already searched the house twice.

“I played with my toys and I took a nap,” said Falcon to journalists following, by CNN.

The allegations of the incident being an elaborate hoax occurred later in the night, after the family interview on Larry King Vive. Host Wolf Blitzer, who filled King, asked if Falcon had heard his parents calling him from the attic. Falcon said he had done it, and when he was asked why he had not answered, he replied: “You said that we did it for the show.” (Falcon vomited during two other appearances in the media the next morning, according to the Associated Press.)

Three days later, on October 18, the Sheriff of the county of Larimer, Jim Alderden, declared the incident a hoax. “They made a very good show for us, and we bought it,” he said at a press conference, according to the New York Times.

“These people wanted to draw a certain national attention, with the ultimate hope that they would end up with a form of television agreement,” added the Subherif of the county of Larimer, Ernie Hudson.

The Heènes initially denied the allegations, although Mayumi later declared that the county’s investigators to Large that he and Richard knew that Falcon was at their home all the time, according to court documents released on October 23 (via Fox News).

“Mayumi described that she and Richard Heene designed this hoax about two weeks earlier,” read an affidavit. “She and Richard had asked their three children to lie to the authorities as well as to the media concerning this hoax.” The goal, she added, was to make the family more marketable for media opportunities.

Ten years later, a Denver journalist 5280 was able to access Mayumi cases. In them, he found notes written by Mayumi for his lawyer who broke down the launching plan of the ball, the interest of the media, to hide Falcon, to set up a meeting in tears with him and to take advantage of the advantages of the attention of the subsequent media.

What complicates things, according to these notes, is that Falcon hid in the attic instead of the basement, where he was told to hide. Unable to find him, his parents would have worried had climbed into the ball.

“This is why Mayumi’s meeting with Falcon was so credible: for a few hours, she and Richard honestly feared that their son was swept away,” read 5280 functionality.

When faced with the information of these notes by 5280Richard continued to deny that a hoax had been perpetrated. Mayumi said she “invented the whole story”, which made her reprimand Richard. “Whenever you write something, you provoke an F — ING S — storm,” he said.

Who is Richard Heene?

Richard is an inventor and was known with friends as a “crazy scientist”, by 7news in Denver. His creations include a wall rear scraper, among others. He says in the Walnut Braille that he thought that the ball would be a “fantastic project” for him and his three sons.

He was also a former actor and a standing actor, who met Mayumi at interim school in Hollywood. Like the New York Times Reported at the time, Richard had been pursuing his glory for a long time. In previous years, he had produced a tornado documentary in which he announced an invention called the “tornado barrel” which, according to him, could “dispel” a tornado, according to the Associated Press.

He and his family had also appeared in the series of reality ABC Woman exchange. The production company of the program would have envisaged a program on the Heènes, but declared to the Times In the aftermath of the incident, it was no longer “in active development with the family”.

The profile in 5280 reported that the series focused on “scandalous scandalous scientific experiences and the equally scandalous family that created them”.

Heene would also have presented a reality show in TLC, although the network has passed, according to the Associated Press.

What happened to Richard Heene?

After declaring the incident a hoax, the New York Times said the Sheriff Alderden said he was planning to charge Richard and Mayumi for conspiracy crimes to commit a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and trying to influence an official.

In November 2009, Richard pleaded guilty to this last accusation, while Mayumi pleaded guilty to an accusation of false reports to the authorities, according to CNN. Prosecutors agreed with a probation sentence with the possibility of 90 days in prison for Richard and up to 60 days for Mayumi.

As indicated in 5280Richard served 30 days in prison and 60 nights of work release. In August 2010, he moved from Colorado to Florida. Nine years later, they moved to New Hampton, NY

He continued to deny that the incident was a hoax, later affirming that he and Mayumi had pleaded only guilty to make sure that she had received an accusation of crime, because a crime could have put her expelled to her native ship, according to the Times.

Heene continued to dream of the celebrity of reality TV, says 5280 that one of the tragedies of his crime was that she disqualified him about the appearance on Shark tankThe ABC reality series in which entrepreneurs present their commercial ideas to a panel of potential investors.

“I know I could impress the sharks,” he said. “Just give me the photo and let me do my thing.”

Where is Balloon Boy now?

Falcon Heene, alias Balloon Boy, is now 22 years old and specializes in the construction of small houses. Speak New York PostHe owns and operates Craftsman Tiny Homes in Archer, Florida.

Falcon maintains an active Instagram, where he filmed tours of his small houses and publishes comedy sketches.

In the years following the hoax, Falcon and his brothers formed a metal group called Heene Boyz, releasing a single called “Balloon Boy, no hoax”. According to 5280Richard wrote a “High Metal Rock Opera entitled American Chilly who featured the Heene Boyz”, and he dreamed of finding a house in streaming.

“I can see this on Amazon Prime, that’s for sure,” he said.

In a 2019 interview with ABC News, Falcon said that he did not remember the incident. It also appears in the Netflix documentary.

“I think it’s crazy about how I was six, and I was able to affect the whole state of the country,” he said in the trailer.

Where can I look Trainwreck: Balloon Boy?

Trainwreck: Balloon Boy is currently available to broadcast on Netflix.

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