Papers: Wife says ‘balloon boy’ was hoax

The wife of a Colorado father at the center of the “balloon boy” saga told authorities that the giant helium balloon was specifically created for a hoax to draw media attention, according to court documents released Friday. Two missiles hit a militant hideout in the village of Damadola, in the border district of Bajaur, a Pakistani military and political officials said.

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Documents: ‘Balloon boy’ dad had hoax in mind, wife says

The wife of a Colorado father at the center of the “balloon boy” saga told authorities that the giant helium balloon was specifically created for a hoax to draw media attention, according to court documents released Friday. Mayumi Heene told Larimer County investigators that she and her husband, Richard Heene, knew that their 6-year-old son Falcon was hiding at their Fort Collins home the entire time, even as police and military scrambled to search for the boy, according to the documents.

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Lighter Than Arrogance

In the Lexicon of Clichés to describe characters accused of a despicable act, “He was once on a reality show” is the new “Neighbors say he was quiet and kept to himself.” Today the idea of a mad loner silently avoiding attention seems like a quaint throwback. In August, a VH1 dating-show contestant was charged with the murder of his ex-wife, then committed suicide

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Balloon ‘not capable of lifting off’ with the boy, Colorado police say

As authorities confirmed the “balloon boy” saga was a hoax, they checked the vessel created by Richard Heene to see whether it could have actually carried his 6-year-old son Falcon. During the incident Thursday, when Heene said his 37-pound son may have been inside the flying-saucer-shaped balloon, the sheriff’s department contacted a specialist at Colorado State University to determine whether it could carry the child.

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‘Balloon boy’ dad to media: Put questions in box

The man whose giant Mylar balloon ascended into the sky this week, amid fears that his 6-year-old was aboard, emerged from his house Saturday and offered a cardboard box for the media to submit questions. “I got people e-mailing me, calling me; they’ve got a lot of questions, and I don’t know how to quite frankly answer any of them other than I’ve got a box,” Richard Heene said about 10 a.m.

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