A sheriff in Colorado says he has no evidence that the Heene family was carrying out a hoax when they reported their son had floated away in a homemade helium balloon.
"We were convinced yesterday ... that the parents were being honest with us," Sheriff Jim Alderden said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.
When the balloon touched down after drifting more than 80 kilometres across the skies north of Denver, he said the mood of Heene's parents experienced "significant deflation." Police officers took their reaction as genuine concern. Presumably the parents believed their six-year-old son had fallen from the aircraft.
Alderden also said investigators do not suspect the boy, whom he described as hyperactive, could have been coaxed by his parents into hiding in an attic for several hours. It's much more likely, he said, that he became frightened by the balloon becoming untethered.
However, investigators will try to interview the family again on Saturday, Alderden said, to lay to rest concerns about a statement the boy made during a live interview with CNN after the brief ordeal.
"We did this for a show," Falcon Heene said during the CNN interview.
The boy's family has appeared on an ABC reality television show called "Wife Swap." His father is also a former television weatherman.
Heene was found safe and sound late on Thursday afternoon, hours after his parents mistakenly reported that he had floated away in the balloon that had been parked in their backyard.
Instead, the boy had been hiding in the rafters in the family's garage. Police said they searched the premises three times, but they failed to search the area where he had been hiding.
"Looking at the debris in the garage, our personnel just didn't think it was possible for a six-year-old boy would be able to get up into that space," Alderden said.
At a press conference on Thursday evening, the boy's father said his son may have hidden after being scolded.
"I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," an emotional Richard Heene said. He added that the balloon had become airborne because it wasn't properly tied down.
"It was a mishap," he said. "I'm not going to lay blame on anybody."
Believing that the missing boy had actually floated high into the air in the runaway balloon, officials tried desperately to figure out how to rescue him.
The family had intended to perform an experiment by raising the balloon 20 feet into the air when it became untethered.
Earlier, the boy had been trying to climb into a compartment at the base of the balloon. One of his brothers reportedly said that Falcon had clambered into the helium-powered aircraft before it lifted up and away.
A rescue effort ensued, while news stations broadcast video of the balloon's flight from circling helicopters.
The Colorado Army National Guard sent an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter and was prepping a Black Hawk UH-60 to make a high-altitude rescue, possibly by lowering someone to the balloon. There was also a plan to use an ultralight aircraft to put weights on the balloon to help lower it to the ground.
However, the balloon appeared to have sprung a leak and eventually came to a rest in a farmer's field on its own, less than two hours after becoming airborne.
With files from The Associated Press
