Cults & Cons: Balloon Boy, the Hoax That Gripped America

0:00Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Are you the type to fall down an internet rabbit hole and not come up for hours? You'll love crimes of Reddit. A new crime house original with Sabrina, Diana, Roge, and Alexis Linklenter. Every week, one host brings real true crime stories from Reddit, while the other reacts completely blind. No prep, no spoilers, then they swab. It's the feeling of sending your group chat a Reddit 2am that starts with, you have to see this. But Sabrina and Alexis are in the chat with you. Follow crimes of Reddit on Apple podcasts and Spotify, or subscribe at crimes of Reddit pod on YouTube. This is Crime House. It was supposed to be a backyard experiment. Instead, it became a live national emergency. Cameras trained on a silver balloon drifting over Colorado, while the world held its breath

1:02for a six year old boy. The search was desperate. The story was not what it seemed. Welcome to Crime House 24-7. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Twice a day every day we bring you the best, most timely and gripping cases from across the entire Crime House network, all in one place, right here. And every Saturday is cults and cons, where we get into the cults, cons, and larger than life characters who deceived and manipulated their way into infamy. Today, we're exposing the balloon boy, Hoax. The first of two cases we've got for you today. And this case still echoes in courtrooms and classrooms today. The balloon boy hoax became a landmark moment in media manipulation. And Richard Hien's stunt helped shape how law enforcement and broadcasters now respond to unverified crisis reports. With misinformation dominating headlines again, prosecutors and media critics are revisiting the Hien case as a blueprint for how a family weaponized live news coverage and nearly got

2:09away with it. Our community exists because of listeners like you. Want even more? Join Crime House Plus for every episode of Crime House 24-7, Add Free. Not only that, but you'll get complete access to an exclusive limited series every month. And early, add free access to all Crime House shows and bonus episodes. Go to CrimeHousePlus.com or on Apple Podcasts, tap Try Free at the top of the Crime House 24-7 page. Now Sabrina Deanna Roca and Corinne Vien pick up the file on the Hien family. The reality TV regulars who convinced a nation a child was dying. We love to start each episode by setting the scene for you, immersing you in and painting a picture for you. So sit back, relax, and imagine this. It's October 15, 2009. It's a clear, sunny afternoon in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the entire Hien family is gathering

3:10in their backyard. It's the moment they've all been waiting for. It's finally here. Ten-year-old Bradford Heady whips out his camcorder and presses record, filming his family around the project they've been working on for weeks. It wouldn't platform with about 20 sheets of aluminum foil, split across it. He watches through the viewfinder, moving the camera from his parents, Richard and Mayumi, to his eight-year-old brother, Rio, and then to his youngest brother, six-year-old Falcon. His camera work is a bit jerky, but he can't help it. He is so excited. He whips the lens back to his parents and zooms in on his mom as she secures some of the ropes around the platform. Next, he watches as his dad starts hooking up the canisters of helium. The gas hisses. And something happens. The family all takes a step back and watches as the foil begins to rise. It's a balloon. Bradford keeps the camera trained on the balloon as it swells. The foil trembles, rising up off the grass.

4:13And it is then that Bradford notices Falcon is missing. He moves the camera around scanning for his youngest brother. Mayumi adjusts the edges of the balloon, and Bradford expects Falcon to jump out and scare them. Falcon loves hiding. He's always playing around like this. And over the last couple of weeks while the Hienys have worked on this project, the compartment attached to the bottom of the balloon has become his new favorite hiding spot. Bradford tries not to laugh as he waits for Falcon to jump out. But Falcon doesn't. Seeing the balloon continue to rise, Bradford calls out to his brother, telling him to get out of the balloon. Everyone waits to beat. And finally, Falcon crawls out from inside with a huge grin across his face. His parents lightheartedly scold him, but their attention quickly returns to the balloon. It's growing larger and larger. Soon it takes its full shape.

5:14It's a flying saucer. It is 20 feet long, about 5 feet high, and the size of a small car, this balloon looks like something out of the jetzins. At any moment now, the helium will cause the balloon to lift off the ground. Finally, the entire balloon is filled. The family squeals with delight as it rides us about a foot off the ground. Then another foot. And another. Until now, it's floating about two stories above their heads. Bradford continues to watch through the viewfinder and can't help but focus on his father's smile. His father, Richard, has spent hundreds of dollars on this foil rope, duct tape, cardboard and plywood, and it took them two weeks to assemble everything. And now here it is. A UFO in their own backyard. Richard has explained it to Bradford countless times. This experiment, if it works, it's just the beginning. His goal was to use this technology to develop new weather-related equipment. And here it is in front of their eyes. It's working.

6:15The heenies are elated. But then something shifts, and Bradford sees his father's smile fade. Replace now with anger. The balloon was drifting. Mayumi was supposed to tether it down. And she swears she did, but it's too late. The balloon is no longer in reach, and it is now moving further and further away with every passing second. Richard is now screaming at Mayumi, but Bradford continues to film the balloon. Soon it's just a dot in the sky. At the whims of the wind. Bradford watches it drift away, and then he turns his attention back to his family. His parents are still shouting. Rio is standing nearby. But Falcon is nowhere to be seen. It is then that Bradford makes the horrifying realization. Falcon is in the balloon. He drops the camera and calls out to his parents. Dad, Falcon's in there. Richard and Mayumi stop yelling and look at him, and Bradford repeats himself.

7:17He's in there. Now the whole family is in a panic. They dart into the house to look for Falcon, but Falcon is nowhere to be found. Because Falcon is inside the flying saucer, floating somewhere over Fort Collins. If this sounds made up, well, then that just proves our point of the season because truth is stranger than fiction. I can't even imagine the fear of a parent thinking that their child is floating in this backyard balloon contraption. Oh my God, I think I just basically killed my kid. Which also, prior to this, they had tried to fly this balloon before, but it hadn't worked. This is the first time that it's flying. It was supposed to be tethered down to the ground. And now it is out of their reach. And their six-year-old child is in it. The anxiety. Or Falcon. But this is real. This is very real. This really happened. And we're going to tell you everything that happened after this moment and how it started

8:20as a family testing out an experiment on a nice fall day turned into a moving nightmare where they believed their six-year-old son was floating away in a balloon in front of their eyes. And I want you to be able to have fun this episode. So maybe to give everyone the chance to breathe, we will give a disclaimer that, no one dies in this episode. In fact, no one's injured. Nope, not at all. No children are harmed. So we can have some fun. Because the optics of a child named Falcon floating away in a balloon is, honestly, hilarious. Soaring through the sky. Yeah. It's a little on the nose. It feels like it was his destiny when he was named Falcon as a child. One day you'll fly. So there is a lot of fun to be had in this episode. But at that moment, on October 15th, 2009, the Heney family was not having fun. They were in sheer panic. Richard jumped into action. He had to get his son to safety, right? So his first instinct was to call the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, because

9:23he knew this balloon was now entering federal airspace. He needed to alert them. So they're not just going to like shoot down a balloon that has his kid inside. Or like that a plane doesn't fly into air or something. Yeah. So he's terrified because he no longer has his eyes on the balloon at his drifted out of sight. So he's so scared for Falcon. He doesn't really know what to do. So he calls the FAA, the FAA dispatcher couldn't understand what Richard was trying to tell her. It's confusing. What do you mean your child is in a balloon in the sky? Your son is in an action. Is it a flying saucer? What? Yeah. Experimental flying saucer from your backyard. Yeah, it makes no sense. So Richard doesn't really know what else to say. So my yumi hopped on the phone and tries to tell her version of like what is happening and reiterate how urgent the situation is. And that is when the FAA agent is like, you need to call that in one one. So they hang up and that is what they did. Feeling desperate, Richard does something that I don't think I would have thought of in

10:26this situation. I think it's brilliant. It is quite brilliant. He calls the local TV station and asks for the news helicopter to follow the balloon's flight because they can't see the balloon anymore. The news has a helicopter so they can track it. And I feel like in this part of the story, some people were like, oh, why would you call the news? But I also think it's brilliant. I think it's really great. It's so smart. He does not have eyes on it. The FAA doesn't know what to do. The police, what are they going to do? So he's like, who could get eyes on this balloon? Right. Yeah. The media is not only eager to help find the young boy, but they're also like, this is what a great story we're going to follow this. So the NBC pilot Jimmy Negri and reporter Greg Feath climbed into the helicopter with a camera operator and took off shortly after Bob Heffernin, an investigator with the Laramor County Sheriff Office, arrived to the Hines house. And he's also very confused, just as confused as the FAA dispatcher. And he's like, you know what?

11:27I'm sure it's just a case of your child hiding in the house. We'll search the home and we'll find him. So once other deputies come to the house, they search the home from top to bottom, but they do not find Falcon anywhere. They search a second time. They search a third time. Still Falcon is nowhere to be found. So Richard and Mayumi aren't completely distraught because of course they were hoping that their kid was inside, but they had already done a search. Luckily though, the NBC news team that's in the air and actively searching for Falcon and a balloon. For a while, all they could see was ClearBoost guy, but soon they spotted a silver disc. In the distance, it is 10,000 feet in the air. And it's moving fast due to high winds, but they have eyes on it, which is at least something. Local reporters notified the National NBC station, which at the time was airing a town hall with then President Barack Obama and National reporters interrupped this town hall to broadcast

12:30the news to the entire country that there is a little boy floating in a helium balloon over Colorado. So now, naturally, everyone across the country is tuning in. So wild. Like Mr. President, there's a backyard UFO with a six year old. Yeah. And we need to watch wild. In 2009, was peak live cable news and the combination of a missing child plus live aerial footage was irresistible. I mean, people were like glued to the TV. The entire search was televised live. People could not look away. I think like Facebook groups are being created like live in the moment. People were creating merch actively as it was happening. And I'm sure like kind of like storm chasers people were going out and trying to follow the footage. Did you? We were in high school. Did you follow it? Did you wear you over at the time? I vaguely remember it happening, but I didn't learn the diddigirty drama and details of the story because of course I took a couple of years to fully unfold too until a couple

13:30of years ago. I truly had never heard of this kind of thing. Yeah. Because the office makes mention of it in one of the episodes. I rewatched that episode recently and I was like, oh, like it was so part of the zeitgeist. I feel like it was like a blip for me. It was like, oh, the pun intended kind of. Limp. Okay. So soon an update came in. Someone in Fort Collins area contacted police and showed them a photo that they took up the flying saucer. And then a few feet below, there was a smaller object which looked like it was falling out or had fallen out of this. Like something had fallen out of the picture. Yes. But it's like still in the sky, right? So the photo is greeny. It was taken from far away. It wasn't clear what the object was, but authorities and the heenies and members of the public are fearing the worst. They're thinking, oh my god, this is a photo of Falcon falling out of the balloon. Yeah. So as panic ramped up, more stations started picking up the story until almost every channel

14:30was covering it. People watched with baited breath, afraid that they were about to see a deadly disaster play out on TV and like a child to a six year old. Six years old. Yeah. Meanwhile, a reporter named Brian Willie had been tracking the story and managed to actually track the balloon with his car kind of like what I was saying, like storm chaser style. And Brian sped down a two lane dirt road that ran through a bunch of fields as the balloon drifted above him. Pretty soon, Brian noticed that this balloon started to get a little bit closer to him. It appeared to be deflating. Which this reminds me, I grew up in a town where like the biggest hot air balloon festival in the United States would happen every summer. Wait, we met. Okay. Yeah. I had the same thing. Yeah. And so like the hot air balloons would like come down in our neighborhoods and it was like a whole thing where we would run and like find the bikes. And you'd run and try to help the balloon like this moment. It was so fun. Yeah. It was so much fun. It reminds me of that. Ballot more stakes. There's no one manning this craft.

15:30About two hours had passed since the balloon first flew away. And now it was losing helium over these fields that Brian is driving below, which were 90 miles away from the Heenys house. So this has made some serious distance. Brian reported live as the balloon made its fast descent towards the ground. People watching became very worried that if Falcon was inside, he was about to endure this horrific and potentially deadly crash. Well, and also I mean, there's so many concerns because at the height of his flying like 10,000 feet, potentially more, what is the air pressure like? What is the oxygen level like? There's so much concern throughout all of this. It is a power line. Coming down. So many concerns. Yeah. It blows up. So Brian is watching this balloon come, seemingly come crashing down to earth. He steps on the gas. He tries to catch up to this quickly falling balloon. And once he's close enough, he slams on the brakes of his car, jumps out of his car, and sprints full speed towards the balloon.

16:33The entire nation is holding his breath because there's news cameras, right? Like people are trying to run from them. So like people are getting live footage of this. He's sprinting as the balloon gets lower and lower, but then it gets slower and reporters. Oh, everyone just sighs out with the relief because it became clear that the balloon was actually going to make quite a soft landing in the field. Police had caught up and they were now gathering under the balloon alongside Brian. And finally, it touched the ground. Everyone ran to the balloon wanting to check on Falcon. They tried to find the door to the compartment that the heenie family had told them of, but there wasn't one. It was just plywood wrapped in foil. So they used shovels to poke holes in the balloon to try to remove back the foil. They couldn't see into the compartment. So they gently lifted the contraption and turned it over. And can you guess what they found? Falcon, a little boy, whisked away the balloon, causing all of this panic was not inside.

17:38Hi, ghouls and goblins. I'm Vanessa Richardson. It's officially our favorite time of year at Crime House, spooky season. Every Sunday this month, we're dropping a bonus episode on Crime House 24-7 where true crime becomes paranormal. A ghost hunt that ends with an innocent man dead in the street. A skeleton sealed inside a hollow tree, nameless for 80 years. A ghost testimony that puts a killer in prison and a murder defense built on demonic possession. Listen every Sunday on Crime House 24-7 or join Crime House Plus for all four right now, add free. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or at CrimeHousePlus.com. Brian's voice shook as he narrated what was going on. The Falcon wasn't inside. Had he fallen out, like they were really, really scared. Reporters covering the event live were audibly devastated.

18:41But more importantly, when the Hines got the news, they were a complete wreck. And at this time, also reporters and news, like everyone else out at our house too, and the Hines were too distraught to even talk to them. But now they're just so scared. Panic Indus May set in and investigators were searching the area where the saucer had landed. And they also searched the ground underneath the balloons in higher flight path. But there was no sign of Falcon. Meanwhile, the Hines huddled in their living room, surrounded by police, fearing with each passing moment that they were about to get the most devastating news of their lives. As officers spoke and hushed tones in the hall, they suddenly felt something brush past their legs. They looked down and they saw a little boy. And one of the officers asked, who are you? And from the living room, the family looks up to see Falcon. Obviously, everyone's staring at six-year-old Falcon. It's also confusing because they have two other kids, right? They're like, wait, did we get confused?

19:43Yeah. But no, he's like, I'm Falcon. Just casually walking past the like barrage of police in his living room. And they're all staring at him in disbelief. And Falcon's like, can I have a snack? A heedy household erupted into a mixture of relief, joy, and obviously confusion. The police were dumbfounded and also a little embarrassed. They had searched the house three times. How had they missed Falcon if he was inside the household time? And Richard and Maeumi wanted to know the same thing. But they also don't blame the police because they knew that their son liked to hide. He was a little bit sneaky. They embraced him and they asked, herefully, where were you? The six-year-old boy, Falcon, explained nonchalantly, because he's sick. He doesn't realize the weight of everything that had just happened, that he had fallen asleep in the attic above the garage. He said that he had gone inside after getting in trouble for climbing into the balloon that first time when he did come out. And that he went inside to go hide in the attic.

20:45He was upset that his parents had yelled at him, so he was hiding there and played with his toys for a little bit before he got tired and fell asleep. I actually do believe that part. I do not have a six-year-old, but I even 19-month-old that has started to win upset about something, run and try to hide and cry. I did that as a kid. Oh my hello. My version of it was I would storm downstairs in my basement and play guitar here. I'd like, really jam on this. Yeah, so it's poor, but it gets out of the fridge. We used to probably for a good reason. No way right now. It's like I tried to turn the harmonica the right way so he blows me the right hole and it's too much, too much to handle. Gotta go cry in the corner. But I get it. That's a normal kid reaction to go like hide and then he fell asleep. According to Falcon, he woke up when he heard voices from inside the house. His stomach started grumbling and he was like, I'm hungry, so I'll go downstairs. To be clear on the timeline here, the balloon took off around 11.30 a.m. And Falcon was missing from anywhere between 12.30 and 1.00 pm.

21:49It was like an hour to an hour and a half had fully passed that he was hiding upstairs and asleep, which is a normal nap, totally normal nap. But how did he sleep through his family and the police going through the house so many times calling his name, Anakin freaking out. There's police cars outside. There's news like reporters outside. Again, he's a child. So in the moment, they're just grateful that Falcon was safe. So you would think that this would be the end of the story, right? It is in fact, far from home. Yes, the story goes on and on. OK, so once the family's shock were off, they finally agreed to speak to reporters who were still gathered outside of the family's home. In their mind, I think that they were thinking that it would thank everyone for their care and for their concern and form them that their son is in fact safe was not in the balloon. Because the whole world was watching. Right. Yeah. Yeah. On paper, this should be a moment of relief. But it was the first media appearance that set this bizarre case in motion.

22:54Because on camera, Richard is just super awkward. And he mostly looks off to the distance as he speaks or like down to the ground. And he quickly thanked police. And that was pretty much it. He didn't really offer any explanation or show any accountability for the situation that got so out of hand that the entire nation has been watching. And also Falcon is there. And he's not showing Falcon the child that he thought might die moments before any affection at all. Like he doesn't even touch him like on the shoulder or anything. No, Falcon's just staying there and his dad is just like looking off in the distance or like at the ground and being like, all right, thanks. You guys can go now. So weird. Yeah, so it was very strange. That whole interaction was just like it was weird. And my Yumi sounded slightly rehearsed too with what she was saying, which people started picking up on and they felt awkward about that. And then when the interview wrapped, it was kind of like crickets, Richard Ping, I live the country. And people started talking about how they thought that this is not how parents or a father

23:55would react in this situation. Which you could say maybe they were just uncomfortable about the whole thing. Maybe they were embarrassed. They just wanted it all to be over. Maybe they were awkward around cameras. But as we'll learn, this is a family that is used to cameras. In fact, likes cameras and maybe seeks them out. Yeah, so it was odd and everyone was picking up on it. And also what they did next. In my mind, I was like, okay, maybe they just wanted this to be over and they wanted, they were embarrassed. Because I would be embarrassed if you got the whole world to be looking for your child and he was just asleep in the basement or in the attic, you know, like, I'd be like, I'm so sorry, I'm embarrassed. I never want to, I don't want any of you to talk to about this again. Or like crying with relief that your child, because you have just thought for two hours that your child is flying 10,000 feet in the air. But what they did next completely contradicts all of that. Yeah. So after that interview, people were left with more questions than answers because things

24:55had gone from this complete media circus to the family acting like, oh, pushposh. No big deal. Everyone had home for dinner. So as people flooded the internet to talk about what the heck just happened, TV producers started reaching out to the Hienys for more interviews. And Richard and Miami agreed to one interview, the biggest one they were offered, Larry King live. The Hienys appeared on the show that same evening, October 15th, 2009. The same day they thought their child had been lifted into the air on their UFO shaped balloon. And from the comfort of their living room, they spoke to Wolf Blitzer who was filling in for Larry that night. And Wolf laid out the story so that everyone understood it. The Hienys had built their own flying saucer in their backyard. It had been tethered down with ropes, but when they filled the balloon up with helium, the rope snapped and the balloon flew away. Then they realized that their son, six-year-old Falcon, was gone. And they thought that perhaps he had climbed into the balloon before it took off.

25:56But fortunately, he had been safe at home the entire time. The Hienys said, yes, this is what happened. And that is sort of kind of the thing you would expect from a far out family like them. So then Wolf starts asking more questions because everyone has everyone had a lot of questions. And the main one being did Falcon hear his family calling for him. And Falcon said, yes. Richard and Mamie look surprised and Richard goes like, if you heard us, why didn't you come out when we called you? Falcon paused for a while. And then he said, quote, you guys said that we did it for the show. And he's taking time to answer because he's trying to read his parents and say, are we going to have script here? What do you mean? I did it because you told me, yeah, that's what's implanting. That single statement from Falcon really broke the Campbell's back here.

26:59What seemed like a terrifying moment for the family. Now they're being questioned if any of it was real. After Falcon said what he said, Mayumi softly replied, no. And Richard seemed, he basically pretended like he didn't hear anything. But both Blitzer was not going to let this go. So he asked Falcon what he meant, but Falcon wouldn't answer. Which listen, he's six years old and just granted he wasn't in the balloon. It's still a traumatic day that he experienced. And this family has not really taken a beat to process it. There have been strangers and cameras and lights in his house like all day police. Well, and also like his, he's trying to read his parents and he might be thinking that he just said something wrong based on their awkwardness. But also like, did he say that because his parents were like, oh, we're going to be on a TV show tonight and like, he just was regretting what happened. Yeah.

28:00Like, oh, I'm supposed to repeat my version of events for the show. Exactly. That makes sense. Right. So both kept pushing and eventually Richard snapped and was like, are you implying that we staged the whole thing? And both didn't exactly deny that he was implying that. So he asked Richard what his son meant by, quote, doing it for the show. And Richard explained that earlier that day reporters had been at the house. They were asking Falcon to show them where he had been hiding for their show. And then this must be what the six year old was referencing, which he's six. Yeah. No, that makes sense. It makes so much sense. Yeah. And pretty much that is where the interview ended. But the story was far from over again. If anything, people were more interested in the story now because was the whole thing of hoax. Like what the heck is going on? Had Richard and my Yumi Hini intentionally staged the incident to make it seem like their son who people were now going to balloon boy had been caught up in this sort of like high jinks.

29:01And if so, why would they do that? Yeah. What's the incentive? Why would you endanger your child or pretend to endanger your child? Right. In any way. But to enter that, people began to dig into Richard and my Yumi Hini and who they were prior to that wild day in 2009, which is exactly what we too are going to do. So Richard Hini and my Yumi is Yuka met in Los Angeles in the early 90s. And can you guess where they met? Acting school. Yes. A UFO conference. That's easily been just totally global for them. They wanted to be actors. And so this became a red flag to people who were now looking into this questioning, whether or not the whole balloon incident was a hoax because they're like, Oh, are they just seeking fame? Right. They both were in the early to mid 30s at the time when they met. And my Yumi had come to the US from Japan. They started dating and got married in 1997.

30:02And after their wedding, my Yumi started earning a living by producing demo reels for actors and Richard tried to break into show business himself. He was acting, doing a standup comedy, but never had much success. The couple eventually decided to let go of their Hollywood ambitions and focus on other interests, which their other interests are quite spectacular. They were storm chasers. Literally. Yeah. And specifically they chased tornadoes, which is so cool and so dangerous and so zany very. I feel like you have to be a certain character to type of person. Yeah. Very. And LA was not the best place to go chase tornadoes. And it was also getting expensive. So they packed up their bags and moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, located on the edge of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. It was a much easier to get to tornado alley. And Richard was a bit of an inventor. He was always thinking of new inventions.

31:02He fancied himself an engineer, though he didn't have any formal training. And he also had a lot of fringe beliefs. He believed in time travel. He believed aliens were real, which, okay, well, what are you saying about those types of people? Because I think we believe 100%. We are for sure alien believers, but he took it like time travel. I would love to think that that's true. I don't think it currently exists, but the possibility that I would love for it too. Yeah. But he took things a little bit further than the typical you and me, alien, you know, paranormal lovers. Yes. He believed aliens were communicating with him telepathically. And he also will get into some of it, but he also thought he was a descendant of aliens that him and my you be both for like, oh, both of them. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, they're living life on the edge. And they want to have a family. So over the next few years, Richard and my you me go on to have three sons, Bradford, Rio and Falcon. And their parenting style was very laid back.

32:04The hedies believed kids should be able to let out all their energy and act however they wanted, even if that meant throwing chairs or just farting whenever they wanted like at the dinner table. They also thought their kids should have absolute freedom, which also meant bringing their kids along with them to go storm chasing their kids would go to sleep fully dressed in clothes like they didn't own pajamas. Just in case there was a storm in the middle of the night and they all had to get up and go chase it. Okay. So I know that they were on wife's swap, but this would event, they would have been the perfect family to include in this show. I think it was called the parent test that came out a few years ago. And it was different parenting styles. And they all competed against each other basically. Interesting to find the parenting style. Like there were there were still a lot of like respect and pros and every style, but like the one that seemed to work the best. And they would have been so fun to watch on that show. I'm telling you they are very fun to watch on wife's swap, even though it's also like, ah, I can't believe this is real.

33:05But yeah, it's also it brings up this conversation of like their kids are young. Yeah. And they're kind of endangering them by bringing them into tornado. It's like it's one thing for you. They even pulled them out of school when there was tornadoes. It's one thing for you like as a consenting adult who knows the risks to like go literally into the storm, but to bring your children is a questionable choice. I wonder how legally it is viewed. Okay, but for Richard storm chasing was definitely more than a hobby. Because yes, there's the thrill of finding that twister, right? But Richard actually wanted to figure out a way to stop tornadoes and its tracks, which like if he did, that's actually kind of amazing. Because if you think about how like deadly and destructive are to stop the ones that are going towards populated areas, like that would be awesome. So he spent a ton of time, he was very obsessed with us. He spent a ton of time and money on trying to figure this out, trying to figure out how to dissipate a tornado, which also if this sounds like the movie twisters, you're absolutely right.

34:09Like it literally feels like copy and paste. Yeah. So he wanted to raise money to ride a motorcycle into the eye of a hurricane. And it is not exactly clear how that would have helped stop a tornado. But that's what he was trying to do. And unsurprisingly, there were not many takers. So the funny thing is like Richard definitely sounds a little bit cookie, right? It sounds like his ideas are outlandish. Yeah, they're out there. But he actually had legit knowledge and training here. He had co-written a paper on electromagnetic fields that appeared in the national weather digest. In 2005, he joined members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, so NOAA, on a plane ride through the center of Hurricane Wilma. And he had even been profiled in the Denver Post for his storm chasing efforts. So he had some credentials within this field. Yeah. And he's dedicated to it. He cares a lot about it. So he's investing a lot of time and energy into learning and trying to create new methods.

35:12Right. But making a living off of storm chasing while it's possible, it is definitely difficult. Yeah. And it was not happening for Richard. So to try to make some extra cash, he put his construction experience to use, running a home remodeling and renovation business. But this was at the height of the 2008 recession. So the timing was horrible. He didn't really have any clients. And that meant that Miami was the main breadwinner. She was supporting her family through the demo real business that she had, which also wasn't very lucrative either. So the heenies were basically like in this constant financial strain. Yeah. Part of the reason that Miami's business couldn't take off was because Richard also expected her to do everything. All of the housework, the cooking, the cleaning, that was women's work. And his energy was best spent on his scientific experiments. And that meant that they basically were left pretty strapped for cash in the end.

36:17And then in 2008, when their kids were eight, seven and five, they got an opportunity that was unlike anything they'd ever done, but was also very akin to something they had long sought out. They were asked to go on the ABC reality show, WifeSwap, which I don't know how you get fat, like do like if producers reached out to them or did they apply, you know, I could see a world where they did apply. I wouldn't be surprised. Uh, yeah. I put my money towards them and apply. Yes. I just, we don't have fact on that. The heenies were excited. They were thrilled. Richard also thought it was a chance to raise awareness about his storm chasing. Plus this would be a good paycheck for them. And also they were the they were bigger kids, probably very excited. They wanted to be actors. They were going to be actors. They're going to be on TV. It's their chance. So for anyone who doesn't know what WifeSwap was, uh, basically it was a show where two married women who lived very extremely different lifestyles would swap lives with each other for two weeks.

37:18So during the first week, the wives would live according to the rules of the host family and basically have to do everything and like live the life to the other wife did. And then during the second week, the host family had to live like the new wife would. Uh-huh. So Richard and my Yumi appeared in the first episode of season five. And if you don't have anything to do tonight or this weekend, I highly recommend watching it. It's on Hulu. Oh, big drama. Lots of heated arguments. Yeah. And this case just is so fascinating watching the two episodes that they are on is very informative. Gives you a lot of context like to the point where Richard calls for my Yumi through a bullhorn. Yeah. Okay. So my Yumi swapped lives with a woman named Karen Martell. Karen and her husband Jay were like complete opposites from the Hines. They believed children to be disciplined and well behaved, but they were also so obsessed with safety to the point where their sons, Max and Dean were afraid to use them microwave because they thought it would give them cancer.

38:27And in the episode, like the kids start listing all the things that they don't do and can't do. And there's like this little they call it like their their jail or my Yumi called it their jail. There's like this little like it's a tiny little square. That they would like put the kids into like make sure they were safe. Oh my God. Yeah. Suffice it to say Karen and her kids had never chased a tornado. There are two families were the epitome of 90 in different. I feel like Karen would have a well, I didn't watch the episode. I should because I can just like imagine the connection she'd have when realizing that children were storm chasing that she was going to storm chase. Yes. There was there was a lot after Karen arrived at the Heaney household things between her and Richard went down. How pretty pretty fast. And I would say the profile I got on Richard from these episodes is pretty damning like he is very misogynistic. When they sat down for their first breakfast together, Karen criticized him for playing with his food.

39:29And he responded by saying that younger women like my Yumi would laugh at all of his childish antics because women's mind start to decline at the age of 25. So he's basically calling Karen old. Well, and women useless after 25 Karen calls him out for his misogyny. And Richard told the camera that he thought she was only upset because she liked him and wish that her husband was more like him. What a scary thing to hear. And things just got worse and worse as the day progressed. Karen realized that she was responsible for all the chores. She told Richard repeatedly that he treated his wife like a servant. She got so fed up later in the day while they were all out chasing a storm and Richard was like continually barking orders at her. Like people had not seen anger like Richard's ever before the show. He was yelling. Scary. It was very. It's so scary to watch TV producer is like what sort of involvement they had if they had any. He screamed at her about how she was a nag.

40:32He like literally mimicked the sound of a jackhammer saying that's what she sounded like. He also sang at the top of his lungs about how annoying he found her. It's great TV. I've seen clips of it on TikTok, but it is horrific behavior. Yeah. He would fly into angry outbursts. He would antagonize and berate Karen. And then also the kids are a little bit out of control like five year old Falcon at the time. It's like saying, fuck that rule. He's like cursing all the kids are farting and cursing and just like, like, God. Yeah. So when it was her turn to make the rules because for the first week, she lived the way that Miami lived. But when it was her turn to make the rules, she was like, you're going to start helping out with the house and the chores. But he basically would turn it on her because she was so scared of like cancer and stuff coming in my way. So any tour, he's like, I can't go by the oven. I could get cancer. Like he was just a prick. Yeah. Didn't she also ban storm chasing? Yeah.

41:32I think like during that week, it was very much like which probably sent him to the bar. And like helmets to ride their bikes and all these things. Normal safety as a parent. Normal safety. Yes. I will say though her safety standards were a little bit extreme. She was extreme. Yeah. They were both extreme, which is why they got paired together for the show. When Karen called him out for like his behavior, Richard drew on a paper plate, calling it the bitch meter. Like horrible. That day, Karen called one of Richard's female friends barbed over to the house to try and help her level with Richard. During that conversation, barbed, admitted to Richard that he had a problem with how he communicated with women. And of course, what did Richard do? He lost his temper. He kept yelling at Karen for every little thing. And eventually she left the house and stayed at a hotel. Okay. So part of wife swap is that Miami has to go somewhere too, right? So she is at the other family. And it's not a walk in the park for her either. For the most part, she and Karen's husband, Jay got along a lot better than Karen and Richard.

42:37Yes. But Miami was worried about how protective Jay was over his sons. So she tried talking to him about it, but Jay was not receptive. So Miami started screaming at him and accusing him of treating her like she was crazy. She eventually calmed down and they came to an agreement. But back in Colorado, Karen stayed at the hotel for the remainder of her trip. That was not the end of Richard's erratic behavior, though, because there was a reunion portion of the episode where each couple was reunited and sat down together to debrief. And he, this is a crazy, interesting. He performed a song. He wrote for Karen about how much he appreciated her. It was, it's so cringe. And they hugged. And she was so comfortable because Karen even says like after he sang, he's like that. She's like, that's the nicest apology I've ever received. And I'm like, girl, that was all fake. That was for the camera. Yeah. That was for the camera. Yeah.

43:37Because they're not trying to end their TV career here, right? And it wasn't the end because when it came time for the 100th episode of wife swap producers were like for the 100th episode, what's better than bringing back all time like favorite families? So viewers voted, guess who won the Heaney family? They were brought back. Again, these are both on Hulu season five, episode one and then season five, episode 18. But this time, my Yumi swapped lives with Shiree Silver, who is a psychic from Florida. And when Shiree got to the Heaney household, she had a lot more to deal with than Karen did. If you if you can believe it, my God, the Heaney's sons cussed at her constantly. Both of the boys and Richard complained constantly about how lazy they thought that she was. And again, like he did with Karen, Richard kept screaming at Shiree and berated her nonstop. And then Falcon on camera called Shiree a dumb bitch. He's like five or six at this time. The treatment only got worse.

44:37She was trying, when it was her turn to make rules, like she ate very healthy at home. So she tried to like have them eat a vegetarian diet, Richard refused. And when she confronted Richard about it, he threw a ham sandwich at her. And then later threw milk all over her. It's so bad. How is he allowed on the show? Because they just want around kids. That's good question. Unlike him and Karen, they did have a breakthrough, Richard and Shiree and Daddy sit down with his acoustic guitar and your song. Well, no, in this up in that episode though, Megumi does sing briefly and it's not great. But she enjoys it. She says it's very therapeutic for her and I support that. This is how they get the breakthrough. She sits him down and does a hypnosis on him. And she wanted to initially hypnotize him to make him kinder and more proactive about doing housework. But instead, Richard taps into a past life as an alien who Oh my God, the TV producers are loving it.

45:40Absolutely. Dream control. Well, to the start in the beginning when she gets to the house, he's like, what am I thinking right now? Because he's like so pushposh about her being a psychic. But during the hypnosis and like the alien stuff coming through. So this is his past life. He piloted a ship that transported humans and other extraterrestrials between earth and his home planet. And because of this, he believes her. He's like, wow, you are a psychic. It is real. And they bond. He had an important role, right? So you have to believe when you were a prince in the dust. And he also already thought he was of alien. Yeah. But this is also the episode that Richard debuted his home made flying saucer for the first time to the world. And he also tells the camera that he and Miami believe they are direct descendants of aliens from outer space and that they were hunting you with those. In the episode, he does try to launch the saucer, but it doesn't work. And I am going to say because Richard's behavior is so extreme that he does get

46:40a lot of the like the featuring in the episode. Yeah. But Miami. It seems like a great mother like when she goes to Shuris family, she sees that like one of the sons is being spotlighted over the other one and the other ones like kind of reserved and quiet because no one's really paying attention and she like has the kids put on a performance and has the one son who's been like neglected. Be the center of attention. Oh, I love that. And it like it was very, very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. They're just a kooky family. Very kooky family. So fast forward one year later, one year after being on wife swap twice, the family launched their own experiment and thought their son had floated away in it, causing a national panic. After Larry King live, people began to pull up the heenies past and with all this information that you now know too, you can understand why people wondered if the so called balloon boy incident was actually just a publicity stunt. Yeah. So if Richard was hoping to benefit from this hoax, it did backfire because people

47:42no longer trusted Richard and Miami. Instead, they wanted to prove that this was a hoax. So people started digging. They started searching for dirt on the family and their history of wanting fame seems to basically be proof of the family seeking attention. It was also discovered at the time of the incident, Richard Heaney had pitched a reality TV show to TLC a reality TV show that would follow the Heaney family and their outrageous homemade science experiments, which actually would have been probably a great show. I probably would have, but like, I think they had been tonight a bunch of times. And I imagine if they were like, were they planning to do this hoax, then sell the show. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's a good idea. So people, yeah, was this a pre plan hoax was a sister of interest in the Heaney family and their shenanigans for TV and in monetary value. People definitely thought so more and more people were starting to believe that he and Miami had forced their kids into an odd and potentially unsafe situation for personal gain and actress people, but the police also believed that.

48:47Yeah. After the public became suspicious, that Richard and Miami had staged the whole balloon boy incident, the Heaney family spent the next few days on a press tour, which questionable choice. But they were trying to prove that it wasn't just a publicity stunt, but it only made them look more suspicious, especially in the eyes of the Lairmer County Sheriff's Office, who had initially responded to Richard's call about the incident. Because in total, they spent $14,500 on military helicopters to look for the balloon, not to mention with all the other costs that were associated with the investigation. So if it was all a hoax, the police were like, this came at a massive cost. If it was a hoax, Richard and Miami should not get away with it. So they brought Richard into the station for questioning. They asked him to take a polygraph test and he agreed, but he started acting very, very weird and was like breathing very heavily and then like acting like he was falling asleep, which they believe were tactics. And I think they were known tactics to like try to like sway results of the

49:49polygraph test. Oh, yeah. So they were like, he is trying to make the results wrong. And we all know today that polygraph tests are like not admissible and as evidence, but back then, like they thought they were, you know, so it worked because Richard's results were inconclusive. So the police moved to plan B. They brought Miami in for questioning. And that is when they finally started to get somewhere. Almost as soon as she sat down, Miami took investigators by surprise when she confessed, just sat down and confessed. She said the whole thing was a publicity stunt. After that, she and Richard were both formally charged with trying to influence a public servant, which was a felony. But Miami came out to say that she basically was coerced into giving a confession of some kind that the police were threatening her. If she was found guilty of a felony, that they would basically use that to get her deported, which is why she claims she struck a deal with them.

50:53Pled guilty to the lesser misdemeanor charge of false reporting. However, the Lairmer County DA's office denied the claim that they were going to try to have Miami deported, but either way in the end, both of them Richard and Miami ended up pleading guilty. Yeah. Because if they really were innocent, like, why wouldn't they just fight for their innocence? Yeah, it's like he said she said almost a situation or they're just like, like it feels like you couldn't have proved it either way. I don't know. Ultimately, Richard was sentenced to 90 days in prison and my Amy was sentenced to 20 days. Richard only had to spend the first 30 days of his sentence fully behind bars because for the last 60, he was granted a work release. So he could go out and work during the day and then sleep in his cell at night. It's not really clear what he did for work at that time, but apparently they found some way to make money. The couple was also ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution.

51:53And I do appreciate this. The court decided that Richard and Bayumi Heney could never financially benefit from the hoax. So they couldn't sell books or write about it, whatnot documentaries, no kickback. Yeah. But don't worry. Richard was an inventor. He had so many ideas, so many ideas that he thought would make him a fortune. And after they both served their time, the family moved to Florida. They started a new chapter and my Amy started homeschooling the kids. And then in 2011, they put the infamous balloon up for auction. And they said that they were going to, or they hoped they were going to raise a million dollars. And they would donate it to victims of the tsunami that occurred in Japan that year. They ended up selling it for $2,500 to a man in Aurora, Colorado. But it is unclear if they actually donated the money. So Richard kept creating new inventions, everything from a wooden pole meant to provide the perfect backs, crutch, to a metal cart on wheels that could load items into the bed

52:56of a pickup truck, as well as an electric powered machine that shakes catch up out of a bond. I feel like he should just own the infomercial. I think he does. But thanks. Richard also created a loading device known as the Hini duty truck transformer in 2011. It's a mouthful. Hini duty truck transformer. Hini duty. It actually is kind of impressive. According to the Huff post, it could lift over 2400 pounds and allowed truck owners to load up and go in just a few minutes. OK. So in a very typical Richard fashion, he films his own commercial for it, where he yells at the top of his lungs about how he uses it. And at one point in the video, Richard says that he uses the pickup truck to pick up hot chicks. And my uni runs into frame. She's wearing a broad yoga pants. And she leaps into Richard's arms and they kiss before she runs off again. I mean, incredible. You got to give it to them in terms of like they get an idea and they run with it.

54:00They make it happen. It's weird, but apparently it worked and it was effective because Richard ended up licensing the truck transformer to a company called AME International, which makes tire changing equipment. And they now sell the truck transformer for $17,000. I don't know how much of it that the Hini's get, but the VP of sales of AME called Richard a crazy genius. And that he'd probably make millions off the truck transformer. I don't know if that's true if he does, but after this, this is my favorite invention that Richard has created. He started selling his ketchup bottle shaking device, which is called the your shakedown. And it's purpose. It's an entire purpose was to shake the remnants of your condiments down to make them easy to dispense. And he created like a more industrial size for like workspaces or like restaurants. He also created an at home one, which this thing is massive. And like there's already like how do you store your kitchen eight and all these things in your house?

55:00This your shakedown is is pretty massive. It's also kind of an inch. Like I wonder how much it was $200. The restaurant version was 350. So I'm like, is that worth the scraps that you're receiving in the end of your ketchup bottle? Nope. And also how often are you using that that you need that in your kitchen? Like right. And also they've squeezed bottles. There's different tricks. It's like a knife on the on the underside of yeah. He was hoping to feature his invention on Shark Tank. But because of his felony record, he was not allowed to show. I think it's like within the last 10 years, you can have a record. So unfortunately, he has not been on Shark Tank and we do not know how many he has sold. So after that, Richard started dedicating more time to his artistic pursuits. In 2011, he teamed up with a musician by the name of Smokey Miles to rate a song called Aluminum Man, which is about the fortitude of a working man apparently. And he got the idea from a character that he'd play for his sons. So this mad scientist dressed up in all aluminum, which is what Richard wears in the music video for the song.

56:06What I'm hearing that I'm like, I do imagine that their childhood was very fun. And like, so full of play and imagination. But like the social structure are important too. I like how to interact with others. Yeah, not there. Yeah. Um, the lyrics, if you were curious about some of them, aluminum man lives inside of aluminum can cooks his eggs on an aluminum pan. Lives all the elements back in the dust, his aluminum man and he'll never rest. Super conductive, like you've never seen in a lightning storm, you'll be struck instantly. Here's my favorite line. His light is a feather and easy to screw. You can recycle him and make him brand new. Also, just true of aluminum foil. You can recycle that. So that is true. That is true. He's producing facts years later in 2015, Richard and his son started a new musical venture, a rock musical called American Chilly, C H I L L I Burr.

57:10Yeah, Chilly in here. And he had originally written this like script as a screenplay, but then reworked it into a musical. He wrote it himself. And according to the Tampa Bay Times, the story follows a 19th century gold prospector who murders Native Americans while high on Paiyote. And then the story travels and spans generations from there and involves critiques of news outlets that publish sensationalized stories as well as a lot of potty humor. Just like with the truck transformer, Richard did find someone who believed in his venture and that person invested $120,000 into the rock musical. They rented a theater out in St. Petersburg, Florida using $30,000 and premiered the show. And they planned to take it to Broadway, but it has not happened yet. Yet keyword. Oh, yeah, because the he needs don't give up. We know that they do not. The he needs have continued to pursue music. They initially formed a band together back in 2008 when Richard and Mayumi were on their second episode of

58:10Boyveswap. Mayumi's host family was musically inclined. So when she got home, she and Richard got their boys to start writing songs together about storm chasing and around the same time that they were working on their musical. Bradford, Rio and Falcon wrote a song called balloon boy, no hoax, all caps. The entire song is Falcon doing scream-o about how the incident is not a folks. You can watch it like this exists on the internet. And in the music video that they created, they like pulled a bunch of news headlines from the time. And it just the music video like flashes a bunch of those. Yeah. So clearly the family was still very intent on claiming that they were wrongfully accused. But unfortunately for them, things didn't work out that way because in 2019, there was a shocking new development in the story. So even though they both pled guilty, they for years were like, we aren't actually guilty. We didn't do this. There wasn't a hoax. But in 2019, Mayumi's lawyer who had represented her when she was charged with lying to the police

59:14reached out to a reporter named Robert Sanchez, who was working on a story about the he needs for the 10 year anniversary of the balloon boy incident. And Mayumi's lawyer told Robert that he had a whole box of documents related to the case that he had kept over the years, including handwritten notes from Mayumi, which outlined like a confession of what happened. According to her notes, which it's hard to verify that she had written them or that they were written prior to the so-called hoax. But apparently after appearing on their two episodes of Weisswap, they had started working with shows producers to pitch a series about their life. The idea was to showcase them as a quirky family, along with their wild science experiments. But as they were pitching the idea to the networks, they were constantly being rejected. So after their fifth rejection, they he needed started brainstorming ways to drum up more interest. And that is when a light bulb went off. They looked at their flying saucer.

1:00:15That was half built in their backyard and realized it could be their claim to fame. It had already been on Weisswap, so it had been tied to Richard's mad scientist image. If you could figure out how to make it fly, then maybe networks would be more interested in their show. But they also knew that they needed more to drum up interest in them, something that the viewers would get excited about. They would have to pull off something unforgettable. And they came up with the idea. They sat their kids down and explained that once Richard could get the flying saucer up in the air, they would plan an official launch and get the whole thing on tape. And then they were going to pretend that Falcon had snuck inside before it lifted off and that he was floating away. Again, this is all written down. And then in the writings, Miami wrote that Richard would call the FAA in a fake panic. They would track the balloon. A media frenzy would ensue and everyone would tune in to make sure Little Falcon was okay. No one would know that he was actually hiding in the basement.

1:01:16That was the plan. That was the plan. And they would wait for the perfect moment and Falcon would come out of the basement and everyone, including the family, would pretend to be relieved to see him and they would catch that on camera too. But they didn't want him to stay down there for long. Certainly not long enough to warrant $14,000 of helicopter search. And their plan had everything. Science, whimsy, fright, a wholesome family reunion, and they thought it would make the perfect TV. The only problem was when the day came, Falcon did not hide in the basement. He hid in the attic above the garage. So when police didn't find him in the basement, the he-nees were very confused. They looked down there themselves, but they couldn't find him either. And then this is when they started to act really, really worry because the longer they went without finding Falcon, they started to wonder if Little Six-year-old Falcon did get confused and he actually somehow was in the balloon.

1:02:18So according to Miami's notes, their panic was completely real. And when Falcon finally emerged from the attic, the relief was real too. Robert Sanchez, the reporter, was, of course, shocked to read through Miami's notes. He'd gotten to know the he-nees pretty well over the last few weeks. So he called them up to ask about it. However, when confronted with the discovery of these notes, Miami-Bac tracked and she told Robert that she'd lied to her attorney to quote, save herself. Which she could have said, like, those notes aren't mine, but instead she's like, no, he lied. Or he told me to write those. Yeah, something. Yeah. When Richard heard her admit this, he started yelling at her, saying that she caused a shit storm. And on the other end of the line, Robert could hear Miami crying as Richard kept yelling. And finally, Miami said, I'm sorry. And that was the end of the conversation. So the he-nees left things very confusing and a little bit yeah. I'm turning. Yeah, are they okay? We don't know. But after everything, I'm like, it does feel like it was a hoax. It was a hoax. It feels like it was a hoax.

1:03:23And if you thought that was the end of the story, it is not. Yeah. Just one year later, in 2020, they did finally catch a break. The governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, pardon the he-nees, he said that they had paid the price for their actions. And in response, the he-nees lawyer said, quote, the balloonesie has ended. Like, how long did he wait for that? I know. He was sitting on that pun for a long time. After this pardon, Miami became an official US citizen. It was a start of a fresh chapter for the family. But is the balloonesie over? Now that Richard's record is clear, will he actually go on Shark Tank? It seems like he might be trying to make that happen. Because in the 2025 Netflix documentary TrainRack, balloon boy, Richard says that he's quote, working on something new and that it's going to be quote, really big. So whether or not the balloon boy saga was actually a hoax, one thing is for sure that he needs have a knack for outrageous television. Despite how much they've lamented

1:04:27the media, they'd be nothing without it. So as long as there's an audience, they'll probably keep chasing the spotlight. And I will say Falcon has said that it wasn't a hoax. Like, he wasn't told, they're instructed to do anything. But who knows? Yeah. It does feel like it was a hoax. And I'm very curious what the kids are up to now. I know. I'm trying to do the math on how old they are. I'm not going to pretend I can't do it that quickly. We'll pretend that we know. And let's wrap it up so you don't have to think about how long it's taking us to not put it together. Thanks for listening to this episode of Crime House 247. Be sure to check out our second episode on the Manson family dropping later today. And to enhance your listening experience, join Crime House Plus and get every episode of Crime House 247 completely ad-free, along with early ad-free access to all Crime House shows plus monthly bonus episodes. To join, go to

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