SOLVED: Moriah Wilson

Summary

Podcast Summary: "SOLVED: Moriah Wilson"

Podcast: Scams, Money, & Murder
Hosts: Vanessa Richardson & Corinne Vien
Release Date: June 4, 2026

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Overview of the Episode

This episode dives deep into the bizarre and unforgettable 2009 "Balloon Boy" hoax, where a Colorado family claimed their 6-year-old son had accidentally floated away in a homemade flying-saucer-shaped balloon, triggering a national media frenzy. The hosts explore the sequence of the incident, the Heaney family's history of reality TV appearances, mounting suspicions of a publicity stunt, and the long-lasting legacy of one of America's strangest media spectacles. Ultimately, the episode probes the blurred line between truth and manufactured spectacle in contemporary crime and media.

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Setting the Stage: The Balloon Launch Incident

[05:46–10:15] Vanessa & Corinne

• The episode begins with a vivid reconstruction: On October 15, 2009, in Fort Collins, Colorado, the Heaney family prepares to launch an experimental weather balloon from their backyard.
• The family—led by eccentric inventor/storm chaser Richard Heaney and his wife Mayumi—has involved their three young sons (Bradford, Rio, and Falcon) in the project.
• As the balloon takes flight, they realize 6-year-old Falcon is missing; panic ensues as they fear he has been carried away by the balloon.

Memorable Quote:
"The optics of a child named Falcon floating away in a balloon is, honest... soaring through the sky. Like, it's a little on the nose."
—Vanessa ([11:24])

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National Media Frenzy & Public Panic

[10:51–22:28] Corinne & Vanessa

• Richard’s frantic calls to the FAA and 911 result in a multi-agency, cross-state search for the balloon, using helicopters and a news crew. [12:13–13:21]
• Major TV channels interrupt regular programming—in one case, even a town hall with President Obama—to broadcast live aerial footage of the silver balloon, captivating viewers nationwide. [15:22]
• Social media explodes; Facebook groups are created and merch is sold in real time.

Notable Moment:
Corinne: “It was so wild. Like, 'Mr. President, there's a backyard UFO with a six-year-old in it.'” ([15:22])

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The "Rescue" and Growing Suspicions

[22:28–35:38] Vanessa & Corinne

• The balloon lands softly after two hours and 90 miles of travel, but searchers discover Falcon is not inside. [22:28]
• After repeated, fruitless searches, Falcon emerges from the attic above the garage, claiming he was hiding after being scolded. The family and police react with disbelief and relief. [24:06–25:33]
• The Heaneys’ subdued behavior in media interviews raises suspicions—Richard appears awkward, unemotional, and detached; Mayumi’s comments seem rehearsed. [28:12]
• On CNN’s Larry King Live, Falcon famously says, “You guys said that we did it for the show,” causing immediate speculation of a hoax. [31:54–32:28]

Critical Quote:
“You guys said that we did it for the show.”
—Falcon Heaney ([32:28])

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A Family "Made for TV": The Heaneys' Background

[35:19–53:22] Vanessa & Corinne

• Richard and Mayumi met in acting school in LA; both had show business ambitions and fringe interests (aliens, storm chasing, inventions). [35:19–36:59]
• They appeared on two seasons of ABC’s Wife Swap, becoming notorious for their outlandish parenting, misogynistic outbursts (Richard), and their “storm chasing” family dynamic—their children often went along on tornado hunts, even sleeping fully dressed in case of an overnight chase. [43:20–50:03]
• Clips from Wife Swap reveal Richard's extreme behavior, from berating women to bizarre stunts (e.g., calling his wife with a bullhorn, drawing a “bitch meter,” and raging at “nagging”). [43:20–48:10]
• The family pitched multiple reality show concepts focused on their science experiments but was repeatedly rejected. [53:22]

Notable Moment:
"When Karen called him out for, like, his behavior, Richard drew on a paper plate, calling it the bitch meter. Like, horrible."
—Vanessa ([47:38])

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Aftermath: The Hoax Unravels

[53:22–57:51] Vanesssa & Corinne

• Following the Balloon Boy incident, public and police skepticism mounts.
• Police investigations discover the family pitched a reality show involving their science experiments and had recently been turned down by TLC.
• Both Richard and Mayumi are questioned. Richard’s polygraph is inconclusive (he acts erratic to skew results), but Mayumi eventually confesses, telling police it was all a publicity stunt. Later, she claims coercion—she feared deportation if found guilty, so struck a plea deal for a misdemeanor charge.
• Ultimately, Richard is sentenced to 90 days in jail (30 in custody, 60 work release), Mayumi to 20 days. They are ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution and barred from profiting from the story. [57:12–57:53]

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Life After the Hoax: Inventions, Rock Operas & Legacy

[57:53–64:39] Vanessa & Corinne

• The Heaneys move to Florida, continuing their penchant for invention and spectacle: Richard creates the "Heaney Doody Truck Transformer," the "Your Shakedown" ketchup-bottle shaker, and attempts to launch musical projects (e.g., Aluminum Man and the rock musical American Chili). [58:59–63:45]
• The family forms a band; Falcon’s song "Balloon Boy, No Hoax" is a screamo denial of the incident being staged. [64:23]

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The Truth Comes Out—Or Does It?

[64:48–68:54] Vanessa & Corinne

• In 2019, Mayumi’s lawyer provides a reporter with handwritten notes outlining a plan to stage the incident for TV. According to these notes, the Heaneys intended Falcon to hide in the basement so the launch would look real on television.
• When asked, Mayumi backtracks, insisting she only wrote those notes under duress. An emotional phone call ensues with Richard berating Mayumi for causing a "shitstorm." [68:05–68:54]

Memorable Moment:
"On the other end of the line, Robert could hear Mayumi crying as Richard kept yelling. And finally, Mayumi said, 'I'm sorry.' And that was the end of the conversation." ([68:35])

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Finale: An Official Pardon & Ongoing Legacy

[69:00–end] Vanessa & Corinne

• In 2020, Colorado’s governor pardons the Heaneys, stating they've paid the price.
• Mayumi becomes a U.S. citizen; Richard hints at a new project in the 2025 Netflix documentary Train Wreck, Balloon Boy. [69:33]
• The hosts reflect: regardless of the truth, the case shows how media spectacle, ambition, and deception can collide in unforgettable ways.

Critical Quote:
"So whether or not the Balloon Boy saga was actually a hoax, one thing is for sure, the Heaneys have a knack for outrageous television. And as long as there's an audience, they'll probably keep chasing the spotlight."
—Corinne ([70:21])

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Key Timestamps

• 05:46 – Scene-setting: the backyard launch and Falcon’s disappearance
• 13:09 – Richard calls a local TV station to request aerial coverage
• 15:22 – National news (even the President) interrupted for live coverage
• 22:28 – Balloon lands, Falcon is missing; panic peaks
• 24:17 – Falcon reappears; confusion and relief
• 28:12 – First public suspicions arise based on the Heaneys' odd interview
• 31:54 – Falcon says, "You guys said that we did it for the show." on Larry King Live
• 43:20 – Wife Swap experiences; family eccentricities on full display
• 53:22 – Public and police begin to investigate potential hoax
• 57:12 – Guilty pleas, sentences, and restitution
• 64:48 – Mayumi’s confession notes surface
• 69:33 – Official pardon; family’s new chapter

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Memorable Quotes

• “You guys said that we did it for the show.”
  —Falcon Heaney, age 6, live on national television ([32:28])

• “When Karen called him out for, like, his behavior, Richard drew on a paper plate, calling it the bitch meter. Like, horrible.”
  —Vanessa ([47:38])

• “So whether or not the Balloon Boy saga was actually a hoax… the Heaneys have a knack for outrageous television. And as long as there’s an audience, they’ll probably keep chasing the spotlight.”
  —Corinne ([70:21])

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Thematic Reflection

Throughout the episode, the hosts maintain a mix of wry amusement and incredulity at the lengths people will go for fame, the capricious nature of media-driven spectacle, and the way truth can get lost in a fog of performance, ambition, and deception. The Balloon Boy incident—equal parts farce and tragedy—remains a cautionary tale at the crossroads of crime, money, and the dark side of reality TV.

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Transcript

[Vanessa]

Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa. Before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll love. Hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhat. Every Monday, Dr. Bhatt goes where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myth myths, not superstition. Just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery.

[Crime House Announcer]

This is Crime House.

[Corinne Vien]

Welcome back, everyone. This is a new season, which means we are mixing it up. We're going to play a new game. So retiring the red flag. Red flag, green flag. Yes.

[Vanessa]

This season is all about crimes of deception where the line between the truth and a lie gets so blurred, it's really hard to tell which way is up. And these stories will have you laughing. They'll also have you wondering, what in the world were these people thinking? And it will also have you realizing that truth is something sometimes stranger than fiction.

[Corinne Vien]

The outcome of some of these cases this season are sometimes unbelievable. And that's why we are bringing back one of our favorite games, two truths and a lie.

[Vanessa]

Woo hoo.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. So take your top off. The most enthusiastic I've ever run. For this game. I'm gonna ask you three questions about the balloon boy incident, which is a true story. Not that anything we've covered has not been. But this is a true story, which involved a quirky, science loving family whose experiments made national headlines. So I'm going to tell you three things about the balloon boy's family and you vote on which one is the lie.

[Vanessa]

Yes.

[Corinne Vien]

Balloon boy's parents were once featured on the reality show Amazing Race. His parents believed that they descended from aliens. And. And his dad says that he can speak to aliens telepathically. And the family wrote their own rock opera, which they are hoping to take to Broadway.

[Vanessa]

We'll give you a moment. Let's see if you can guess which one is the lie. Do do, do, do do. You have your answer? All right. The lie is number one. Balloon boy's parents were not featured on the reality show Amazing Race, but they were on a different reality show. And this also might be one of my favorite parts of the story. The couple, Richard and Mayumi Heaney, went on the show Wife Swap, and not only once, but they went on it twice. Their first appearance was so jaw dropping that viewers wanted more, which meant that they were voted to return for a second episode. And that is just a fraction of the very ridiculous life that they lived in the public eye.

[Corinne Vien]

And also, I just have to say, in the wife's wife world, being viewed as jaw dropping is not a good thing.

[Vanessa]

And I can attest because I watched both episodes last night.

[Corinne Vien]

So today we're going to tell you all about the Heaney family, an experiment gone wrong and the day that they released a giant helium balloon into the sky over Colorado. A day that sparked a nationwide media frenzy and a desperate real time search for a missing child.

[Vanessa]

Welcome to Crimes of Deception, a crime House original powered by Pave Studios, where your hosts Sabrina Deanna Roga and Corinne Vien.

[Corinne Vien]

Every Tuesday we're exploring a different corner of the true crime universe, examining cases that left a permanent impact on society. This season we're stepping into some of the boldest and most unbelievable crimes ever committed. The kinds of crimes where reality is stranger than any fiction. So make sure to hit that subscribe button to join our community so you never miss an episode.

[Vanessa]

If you're loving crimes of Please follow rate and review us wherever you listen. It helps us build this community and we love hearing from you. To get early access and ad free listening, subscribe to the Crime House plus community on Apple Podcasts. You can also catch us on YouTube where we include visuals that bring every case to life.

[Corinne Vien]

Today we're headed to Fort Collins, Colorado to dive into the infamous Balloon Boy case. The story follows the strange, science loving Heaney family who launched an experiment that spiraled out of control. The entire nation tuned in to see whether things would end in delight or disaster. Soon people realized the Heaney's bizarre shenanigans were only just the beginning. So let's get into it.

[Vanessa]

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.

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[Vanessa]

It's a clear sunny afternoon in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the entire Heaney family is gathering in their backyard. It's the moment they've all been waiting for. It's finally here. 10 year old Bradford Heaney whips out his camcorder and presses record, filming his family around the project they've been working on for weeks. A wooden platform with about 20 sheets of aluminum foil splayed across it. He watches through the viewfinder, moving the camera from his parents, Richard and Mayumi, to his 8 year old brother Rio, and then to his youngest brother, 6 year old Falcon. His camera work is a bit jerky, but he can't help it. He is so, 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. And 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 Heeneys have worked on this project, the compartment attached to the bottom of the balloon has become his new, 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 a 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. It's a flying saucer. It is 20ft long, about 5ft high, and the size of a small car. This balloon looks like something out of the Jetsons. And 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 rises about a foot 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. The heenies are elated. But then something shifts and Bradford sees his father's smile fade, replaced 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, 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. He'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.

[Corinne Vien]

If this sounds made up, well then that just proves our point of this 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 like, backyard balloon contraption. Oh my God. I think I just basically killed my kid.

[Vanessa]

Which also, like, prior to this, they had tried to like fly this balloon before, but it hadn't worked. And this is the first time that it's flying. It was supposed to be tethered down to the ground, right? And now it is out of their reach and their six year old child is in it.

[Corinne Vien]

The anxiety horrifying, but this is real. This is very real. This really happened. And we're gonna tell you everything that happened after this moment and how. What started as a family testing out an experiment on a nice fall day turned into a living nightmare where they believed their six year old son was floating away in a balloon in front of their eyes.

[Vanessa]

And I want 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.

[Corinne Vien]

In fact, no one's injured.

[Vanessa]

No, no, 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 honest.

[Corinne Vien]

Soaring through the sky.

[Vanessa]

Yeah. Like, it's a little on the nose. Like, it feels like it was like his destiny when he was named Falcon as a child. Like, fly one day. One day you'll fly.

[Corinne Vien]

So there is a lot of fun to be had in this episode. But at that moment, on October 15, 2009, the Heaney 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 Admin. Because he knew this balloon was now entering federal airspace. He needed to alert them. So they're not just gonna, like, shoot down a balloon that has his kid

[Vanessa]

inside or like, that a plane doesn't fly into it or something?

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's terrified because he no longer has his eyes on the balloon. It has 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.

[Vanessa]

It's confusing. What do you mean? Your child is in a balloon in the sky.

[Corinne Vien]

Your son is in an. Is it a flying saucer? What, sir? Experimental flying saucer from your backyard. Yeah. It makes no sense. So Richard doesn't really know what else to say. So Mayumi 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 91 1. 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 this situation.

[Vanessa]

I think it's brilliant.

[Corinne Vien]

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.

[Vanessa]

And I feel like in this part of the story, some people are like, oh, why would you call the news? But I also think. I think it's brilliant. Like you were saying. It's so smart. He does not have eyes on it. The FAA doesn't know what to do. The police. What are they gonna do? So he's like, who could get eyes on this balloon? Yeah, it's smart. So 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 gonna follow this. So the NBC pilot Jimmy Negri and reporter Greg Feith climbed into the helicopter with a camera operator and took off. Shortly after, Bob Heffernan, an investigator with the Larimer county sheriff office, arrived to the Heaney's house. And he's also very confused, just as confused as the FAA dispatcher. And he's like, you know what? I'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 are 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 the balloon. For a while, all they could see was clear blue sky. But soon they spotted a silver disc in the distance. It is 10,000ft 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 interrupt this town hall to broadcast the 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.

[Corinne Vien]

It was so wild. Like, Mr. President, there's a backyard UFO with a six year old in it, and we need to watch wild.

[Vanessa]

And 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 were being created, like, live in the moment. People were creating merch actively as it was happening.

[Corinne Vien]

And I'm sure like kind of like storm chasers, people were going out, trying to follow the police.

[Vanessa]

Did you?

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[Vanessa]

sneak past the crime scene tape to explore the key evidence behind some of the most gripping true crime cases? I'm Morgan Absher. And I'm Kalyn Moore, and we'd love for you to check out our new show, Clues.

[Corinne Vien]

Each Wednesday, I piece together the timelines and break down the hard facts, digging into forensic details, investigative techniques, and everything that led to justice or didn't.

[Vanessa]

And while Kaelyn dives into the facts, I'm pulling at the threads, digging through the Internet theories and looking at the details that may or may not add up.

[Corinne Vien]

From serial killers to shocking cold cases, we shine a light on the stories that have been waiting, sometimes for decades, to finally be heard.

[Vanessa]

So join us as we uncover the breakthroughs, the heartbreak, and the relentless pursuit of answers behind the world's most unforgettable investigations.

[Corinne Vien]

Come open a case file with us every Wednesday and listen to clues wherever

[Vanessa]

you get your podcasts.

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[Vanessa]

In high school, did you follow it? Were you aware?

[Corinne Vien]

I vaguely remember it happening, but I didn't Learn the nitty gritty drama and details of the story. Because, of course, it took a couple years to fully unfold, too. Until a couple years ago, I truly

[Vanessa]

had never heard of this case. 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.

[Corinne Vien]

I feel like it was like a blip for me. It was like.

[Vanessa]

Oh, the pun intended, kind of limp.

[Corinne Vien]

Okay. So soon an update came in. Someone in Fort Collins area contacted police and showed them a photo that they took off 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.

[Vanessa]

Like something had fallen out of the plane. Yes. Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

But it's, like, still in the sky. Right? So the photo's grainy. It was taken from far away. It wasn't clear what the object was. But authorities and the Heaneys 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.

[Vanessa]

Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

So as panic ramped up, more stations started picking up the story until almost every channel was covering it. People watched with bated breath, afraid that they were about to see a deadly disaster play out on tv. And like a child to a six year old.

[Vanessa]

Six years old.

[Corinne Vien]

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

[Vanessa]

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?

[Corinne Vien]

Okay. Yeah, I had, like, the same thing.

[Vanessa]

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 into, like, fires

[Corinne Vien]

on their bikes and you'd, like, run and try to help the balloon get them back into the air.

[Vanessa]

It was so fun. Yeah, it was so much fun. It reminds me of that a lot. More stakes.

[Corinne Vien]

There's no one manning this craft. About 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 Heaney's 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 Falcon was inside. He was about to endure this horrific and potentially deadly crash.

[Vanessa]

Well, and also, I mean, there's so many concerns because at the height, it was flying, like 10,000ft, potentially more. What is the air pressure like, what is the oxygen level like? There's so much concern throughout all of this.

[Corinne Vien]

What if he hits a power line coming down?

[Vanessa]

So many concerns.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah, it blows up. Yeah, it's just. It's terrible. So Brian is watching this balloon come, like, 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. The entire nation is holding its breath because there's news cameras, right? Like, people are trying to pop off. Everyone's watching. 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 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.

[Vanessa]

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 Heaney family had told them of, but there wasn't one. It was just plywood wrapped in foil. So they used shovels to, like, poke holes in the balloon to try to, like, 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. The little boy whisked away the balloon causing all of this panic was not inside. Brian's voice shook as he narrated what was going on. If Falcon wasn't inside, had he fallen out? Like, they were really, really scared. Right? Reporters covering the event live were audibly devastated. But more importantly, when the Heaneys got the news, they were a complete wreck. And at this time, also reporters and news, like, everyone was outside of their house, too, and the Heaneys were too distraught to even talk to them, but now they're just so scared. Panic and dismay set in, and investigators were searching the area where the saucer had landed. And they also searched the ground underneath the balloon's entire flight path, but there was no sign of Falcon.

[Corinne Vien]

Meanwhile, the Heaneys 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 in hushed tones in the hall, they suddenly felt something brush past their legs. They looked down and they saw a little boy. Stunned, one of the officers asked, who are you? And from the living room, the family looks up to see Falcon.

[Vanessa]

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?

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah.

[Vanessa]

But no. He's like, I'm Falcon.

[Corinne Vien]

Just casually walking past the barrage of police in his living room.

[Vanessa]

And they're all staring at him in disbelief. And Falcon's like, can I have a snack? The Heaney household erupted into a mixture of relief, joy, and obviously confusion. The police were dumbfounded and also a little embarrassed. Like they had searched the house three times. How had they missed Falcon if he was inside the house the whole time? And Richard and Mayumi 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 tearfully, where were you? The six year old boy, Falcon explained nonchalantly, because he's six, 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah.

[Vanessa]

And that he went inside to go hide in the attic. He 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.

[Corinne Vien]

I actually do believe that part. I do not have a 6 year old, but I have a 19 month old that has started to, when upset about something, run and try to hide and cry. Hidden.

[Vanessa]

I did that as a kid.

[Corinne Vien]

I'm like, hello.

[Vanessa]

My version of it was I would storm downstairs in my basement and play Guitar Hero. I'd like really jam on those four buttons.

[Corinne Vien]

Get that energy out. Yours is probably for a good reason, Noah. Right now it's like I try to the drama, turn the harmonica the right way so he blows through the right hole. And it's like too much, too much to handle. Gotta go cry in the corner.

[Vanessa]

But I get it. Like that's like 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 and his stomach started grumbling. And he was like, I'm hungry, so I'll go downstairs. So to be clear on the timeline here, so the balloon took off around 11:30am and Falcon was missing from anywhere between, like, 12:30 and 1pm so it was like an hour to an hour and a half had fully passed that he was hiding upstairs and asleep, which

[Corinne Vien]

is a normal nap.

[Vanessa]

Totally normal nap. But how did he sleep through his family and the police going through the house so many times, calling his name, panicking, 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.

[Corinne Vien]

So you would think that this would be the end of the story, right? But it is, in fact, from over. From over, yes. This story goes on and on. Okay, so once the family shock wore 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 they would thank everyone for their care and for their concern, inform them that their son is, in fact, safe, was not in the balloon because

[Vanessa]

the whole world is watching.

[Corinne Vien]

Right? Yeah.

[Vanessa]

Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

On paper, this should be a moment of relief, but it was the first media appearance that set this bizarre case in motion. Because 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.

[Vanessa]

Like, he doesn't even touch him, like, on the shoulder or anything.

[Corinne Vien]

No. Falcon's just standing there, and his dad is just, like, looking off in the distance or, like, at the ground being like, all right, thanks. You guys can go now.

[Vanessa]

So weird.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. So it was very strange. That whole interaction was just like. It was weird. And Mayumi 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 were chirping all over the country. And people started talking about how they thought that this is not how parents or a father would react in this situation, which you could say maybe they

[Vanessa]

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 this, it was, it was odd. And everyone was picking up on it. And also what they did next, like, because 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, I don't want any of you to talk about this again.

[Corinne Vien]

Or like crying with relief that your child. Because you have just thought for two hours that your child is flying 10,000ft in the air.

[Vanessa]

But what they did next completely contradicts all of that.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. So after that interview, people were left with more questions than answers because things had gone from this complete media circus to the family acting like, oh, pish posh, big deal, everyone head home for dinner. So as people flooded the Internet to talk about what the heck just happened,

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[Vanessa]

On a quiet Saturday morning, five women walked into Elaine Bryant store and never came home. The man responsible for their deaths was heard and even described by the lone survivor. But despite nearly being caught, he vanished into thin air. In the years since, new technology, new investigators and new questions have changed what's possible.

[Corinne Vien]

But the families are still waiting for answers.

[Vanessa]

The evidence is still there. And this case isn't cold. It's unfinished. Listen to Counterclock Season eight, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Corinne Vien]

Reaching out to the Heaneys for more interviews. And Richard and Mayumi agreed to one interview, the biggest one they were offered Larry King Live. The Heaneys appeared on the show that same evening, October 15, 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 Heaneys 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, 6 year old Falcon, was gone. And they thought that perhaps he'd climbed into the balloon before it took off. But fortunately, he had been safe at home the entire time. The Hinnies 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.

[Vanessa]

But 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 Miami 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, but let's just let that land. You guys said that we did it for the show.

[Corinne Vien]

And like, he's taking time to answer because he's trying to read his parents and say, wait, what? Why are we going off script here? Yeah, what do you mean?

[Vanessa]

I did it because you told me. Yeah, that's what it's implying. Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

That single statement from Falcon really broke the Campbell's back here. What seemed like a terrifying moment for the family. Now they're being questioned if any of it was real.

[Vanessa]

Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

After Falcon said what he said, Mayumi softly replied, no. And Richard seemed. He basically pretended like he didn't hear anything. La la la la la la. But Wolf Blitzer was not gonna let this go. So he asked Falcon what he meant, but Falcon wouldn't answer.

[Vanessa]

Which, listen, he's six years old and just granted he wasn't in the balloon, but 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Well, and also, like, he's trying to read his parents and he might be thinking that he just said something wrong based on their awkwardness.

[Vanessa]

But also like, did he say that because his parents were like, oh, we're gonna be on a TV show tonight and he just was.

[Corinne Vien]

You can tell them what happened. Yeah, yeah. They're like, oh, I'm supposed to repeat my version of events for the show. Exactly. That makes sense, right? So Woolf kept pushing and eventually Richard snapped and was like, are you implying that we staged the whole thing? And Wolf 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 from for their show, and that this must be what the six year old was referencing, which he's six. Yeah. No, that makes sense.

[Vanessa]

It makes so much sense. Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

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 a hoax? Like, what the heck is going on? Had Richard and Mayumi Hini intentionally staged the incident to make it seem like their son, who people were now calling the Balloon Boy, had been caught up in this sort of, like, hijinks? And if so, why would they do it?

[Vanessa]

Why?

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah, what's the incentive?

[Vanessa]

Why would you endanger your child or pretend to endanger your child.

[Corinne Vien]

Right.

[Vanessa]

In any way? But to answer that, people began to dig into Richard and Mayumi Heaney and who they were prior to that wild day in 2009, which is exactly what we two are going to do. So Richard Heaney and Mayumi Iizuka met in Los Angeles in the early 90s. And can you guess where they met? Acting school. Yes.

[Corinne Vien]

A UFO conference that would easily been just unbelievable for them.

[Vanessa]

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?

[Corinne Vien]

Right.

[Vanessa]

They both were in the early to mid-30s at the time when they met. And Mayumi had come to the US from Japan. They started dating and got married in 1997. And after their wedding, Mayumi started earning a living by producing demo reels for actors. And Richard tried to break into show business himself. He was acting, doing 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

[Corinne Vien]

so cool and so dangerous and so zany.

[Vanessa]

Very.

[Corinne Vien]

I feel like you have to be a certain character to type of person.

[Vanessa]

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 much easier to get to Tornado Alley. And Richard was a bit of an inventor. He was always thinking up new inventions. He 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Okay, what are you saying about those types of people? Because I think we believe it 100%.

[Vanessa]

We are for sure alien believers. But he took it like time travel.

[Corinne Vien]

I would love to think that that's true.

[Vanessa]

I don't think it currently exists.

[Corinne Vien]

But the possibility that it could be.

[Vanessa]

I would love for it to.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah.

[Vanessa]

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. We'll get into this in a little bit. But he also thought he was a descendant of aliens, that him and Mayuubi both were like, oh, both of them.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. Interesting.

[Vanessa]

But anyway, they're living life on the edge and they want to have a family. So over the next few years, Richard and Mayumi go on to have three sons, Bradford, Rio, and Falcon. And their parenting style was very laid back. The headis 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Okay. So I know that they were on Wife Swap, but this would have been. 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 still a lot of, like, respect and prose in every single style, but, like, the one that seemed to work the best. And they would have been so fun to watch on that show.

[Vanessa]

I'm telling you, they are very fun to watch on Wife Swap, even though it's also like, ah, I can't believe this is real. But yeah, it's. And it's also. It brings up this conversation of, like, their kids are young.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah.

[Vanessa]

And they're kind of endangering them by bringing them into tornadoes. Like, it's one thing for you, because

[Corinne Vien]

they even pulled them out of school when there was tornadoes.

[Vanessa]

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.

[Corinne Vien]

I wonder how legally this 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 in its tracks, which, like, if he did, that's actually kind of amazing because if you think about how like deadly and destructive some of them are to stop the ones that are going towards populated areas, areas like that would be awesome. So he spent a ton of time, he was very obsessed with this. He spent a ton of time and money on trying to figure this out, trying to figure out how to dissipate a tornado.

[Vanessa]

Which also, if this sounds like the movie Twisters, you're absolutely right. Like, it literally feels like copy and paste. Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

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. 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 kooky, 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 has some credentials within this field.

[Vanessa]

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.

[Corinne Vien]

Right. But making a living off of strong chasing, while it's possible, it is definitely difficult. 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 many clients. And that meant that Mayumi was the main breadwinner. She was supporting her family throughout the demo reel business that she had, which also wasn't very lucrative either. So the Heaneys Were basically like, in this constant financial strain.

[Vanessa]

Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

Part of the reason that Mayumi'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.

[Vanessa]

And then in 2008, when their kids were 8, 7, and 5, 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 Wife Swap, which I don't know how you get f. Like, do like if producers reached out to them or did they apply, you know? Yeah, I could see a world where they did apply. I wouldn't be surprised.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah, I put my money towards them applying.

[Vanessa]

Yes. I just. We don't have fact on that. The Heaneys 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.

[Corinne Vien]

And also, they were theater kids, probably very excited.

[Vanessa]

They wanted to be actors.

[Corinne Vien]

They were gonna be actors. They're gonna be on tv.

[Vanessa]

It's their chance.

[Corinne Vien]

So for anyone who doesn't know what Wife Swap was, basically it was a show where two married women who lived very extremely different lifestyles would swap lives with each other for two weeks. So 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 the other wife did. And then during the second week, the host family had to live like the new wife would.

[Vanessa]

Uh huh. So Richard and Mayumi 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Oh. Big drama. Lots of heated arguments. Yeah.

[Vanessa]

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 Mayumi through a bullhorn. Yeah. Okay. So Mayumi swapped lives with a woman named Karen Martell. Karen and her husband Jay were like complete opposites from the Heaneys. They believed children should 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 the microwave because it's. They thought it would give them cancer. And in the episode, like, the kids start listing all of 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 Mayumi called it their jail. There's like this little, like it's a tiny little square that they would like put the kids in to like make sure they were safe.

[Corinne Vien]

Oh my God.

[Vanessa]

Yeah. Suffice it to say Karen and her kids had never chased a tornado. Their two families were the epitome of night and day.

[Corinne Vien]

I feel like Karen would have a. Well, I didn't watch the episode. I should because I can just like imagine the conniption she'd have when realizing that children were storm chasing, that she was going to storm chase.

[Vanessa]

Yes, there is a lot. After Karen arrived at the Heaney household, things between her and Richard went downhill pretty, pretty fast. And I would say the profile I got on Richard from these episodes, so pretty damning. Like, he is very misogynistic. When they sat down for their first breakfast together, Karen criticized him for playing with his food. And he responded by saying that younger women like Mayumi would laugh at all of his childish antics because women's minds start to decline at the age of 25. So he's basically calling Karen old.

[Corinne Vien]

Well, and women useless. After.

[Vanessa]

After 25, 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 wished that her husband was more like him.

[Corinne Vien]

What a scary thing to hear.

[Vanessa]

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 ever before on the show. He was yelling, scary. It was very. It's scary.

[Corinne Vien]

I'm so curious to the TV producers, like what sort of involvement they had, if they had any.

[Vanessa]

He screamed at her about how she was a nag. He 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.

[Corinne Vien]

I've seen clips of it on TikTok.

[Vanessa]

But it is horrific behavior.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah.

[Vanessa]

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 is like saying fuck that rule. He's like cursing all the kids are farting and cursing and just like, my God. Yeah. So when it was her turn to make the rules. Cause for the first week, she lived the way that Mayumi lived. But when it was her turn to make the rules, she was like, you're gonna 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 from the microwave. So any tour, he's like, I can't go by the oven. I could get cancer. Like, he was just a prick.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. Didn't she also begin storm chasing?

[Vanessa]

Yeah, I think, like, during that week, it was very much like.

[Corinne Vien]

Which probably sent him.

[Vanessa]

She bought them, like, helmets to ride their bikes and all these things.

[Corinne Vien]

Normal safety. As a parent.

[Vanessa]

Normal safety. Yes. I will say, though, her safety standards were a little bit extreme.

[Corinne Vien]

She was extreme.

[Vanessa]

Yeah, they were both extreme, which is

[Corinne Vien]

why they got paired together for the show.

[Vanessa]

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, Barb, over to the house to try and help her level with Richard. During that conversation, Barb 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. Yep. He kept yelling at Karen for every little thing, and eventually, she left the house and stayed at a hotel.

[Corinne Vien]

Okay, so part of wife swap is that Mayumi has to go somewhere too, right? Yeah. 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.

[Vanessa]

Yes. Did.

[Corinne Vien]

But Mayumi was worried about how protective Jay was over his sons, so she tried talking to him about it, but Jay was not receptive. So Mayumi 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 set, sat down together to debrief, and he. This is the craziest thing. He performed a song he wrote for Karen about how much he appreciated her. It was.

[Vanessa]

It's so cringe. And they hugged, and she. And it's also sad because Karen even says, like, after he sang it, 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah, that was for the camera. Yeah. Because they're not trying to end their TV career here, right?

[Vanessa]

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, Mayumi swapped lives with Cherie Silver, who is a psychic from Florida. And when Cherie got to the Heaney household, she had a lot more to deal with than Karen did. If you. If you can believe it.

[Corinne Vien]

Oh, my gosh.

[Vanessa]

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 Cherie and berated her nonstop. And then Falcon on camera called Cherie a dumb bitch. He's like, five or six at this time. The treatment only got worse. She 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.

[Corinne Vien]

How is he allowed on the show?

[Vanessa]

Because they just wanted.

[Corinne Vien]

We're around kids.

[Vanessa]

Good question. Unlike him and Karen, they did have a breakthrough. Richard and Cherie.

[Corinne Vien]

And did he sit down with his acoustic guitar and sing her song?

[Vanessa]

Well, no. 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Oh, my God. The TV producers are loving that.

[Vanessa]

Absolutely.

[Corinne Vien]

Dream come true.

[Vanessa]

Well. Cause it starts in the beginning when she gets to the house. He's like, what am I thinking right now? Cause he's, like, so pish posh about her being a psychic. But during this 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Because he had an important role, right?

[Vanessa]

Exactly.

[Corinne Vien]

You had to believe when you were a prince in their dust.

[Vanessa]

And he also already thought he was of alien descent. But this is also the episode that Richard debuts his homemade flying saucer for the first time to the world. And he also tells the camera that he and Mayumi believe they are direct descendants of aliens from outer space and that they were hunting UFOs. In the episode, he does try to launch the saucer, but it doesn't work. And I am gonna say, because Richard's behavior is so extreme that he does get a lot of the featuring in the episode. But Mayumi seems like a great mother. Like when she goes to Cherie's family, she sees that like one of the sons is being spotlighted over the other one. And the other one's like kind of reserved and quiet because no one's really paying attention to him. 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?

[Corinne Vien]

Oh, I love that.

[Vanessa]

And it like, it was very, very sweet.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. Yeah. They're just a kooky family.

[Vanessa]

A very kooky family.

[Corinne Vien]

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 Heaney's 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.

[Vanessa]

Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

So if Richard was hoping to benefit from this hoax, it did backfire because people no longer trusted Richard in 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 seemed to basically be proof of the family seeking attention. It was also discovered that 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.

[Vanessa]

It probably would have. But like, I think they had been denied a bunch of times. And I imagine if they were like, were they planning to do this hoax to then sell the show?

[Corinne Vien]

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's, that's a good idea. So people. Yeah. Was this a pre planned hoax? Was this to stir up interest in the Heaney family and their shenanigans for TV and. And monetary value? People definitely thought so. More and more people were starting to believe that he and Mayumi had forced their kids into an odd and potentially unsafe situation for personal gain. And not just people. But the police also believed that. Yeah.

[Vanessa]

After the public became suspicious that Richard and Mayumi 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 Larimer 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 Bayoumi 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 believed were tactics. And I think they were known tactics to, like, try to, like, sway results of a polygraph test.

[Corinne Vien]

Oh, yeah.

[Vanessa]

So they were like, he is trying to make the results wrong. And we all know today that polygraph tests are, like, not admissible in as evidence. But back then, like, they thought they were, you know, so it worked because Richard's results were inconclusive.

[Corinne Vien]

So the police moved to plan B. They brought Mayumi in for questioning, and that is when they finally started to get somewhere. Almost as soon as she sat down, Mayumi 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 Mayumi came out to say that she basically was coerced into giving a confession of some kind, that the police were threatening her, that 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. Pled guilty to the lesser misdemeanor charge of false reporting. However, The Larimer County DA's office denied the claim that they were going to try to have Mayumi deported. But either way, in the end, both of Them, Richard and Mayumi ended up pleading guilty. Yeah.

[Vanessa]

Because if they really were innocent, like. Like, why wouldn't they just fight for their innocence?

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah, it's like a he said, she said almost situation where they're just like.

[Vanessa]

Like, it feels like you couldn't have proved it either way.

[Corinne Vien]

I don't know.

[Vanessa]

Ultimately, Richard was sentenced to 90 days in prison, and Mayumi 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 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. And I do appreciate this. The court decided that Richard and Mayumi Heaney could never financially benefit from the hoax. So they couldn't sell books or write about it. Whatnot.

[Corinne Vien]

Documentaries. No kickback.

[Vanessa]

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 Mayumi started homeschooling the kids. And then in 2011, they put the infamous balloon up for auction. And they said that they were gonna. Well, 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.

[Corinne Vien]

So Richard kept creating new inventions. Everything from a wooden pole meant to provide the perfect back scratch to a metal cart on wheels that could load items into the bed of a pickup truck, as well as an electric powered machine that shakes ketchup out of a bottle. I feel like he should just own the infomercial channel.

[Vanessa]

I think he does. Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

Come up with things. Richard also created a loading device known as the Heaney Doody truck transformer in 2011.

[Vanessa]

That's a mouthful. Heeny Duty Truck Transformer. Heeny Doody.

[Corinne Vien]

It actually is kind of impressive. According to the HuffPost, it could lift over 2,400 pounds and allowed truck owners to load up and go in just a few minutes. Okay. So in very typical Richard fashion, he films his own commercial for it where he yells at the top of his lungs about how to use it. And at one point in the video, Richard says that he uses the pickup truck to pick up hot chicks. And Mayumi runs into frame. She's wearing a bra and yoga pants and she leaps into Richard's arms and they kiss before she runs off again. I mean, incredible.

[Vanessa]

You gotta give it to them in terms of like, they get an idea and they run with it. They make it happen.

[Corinne Vien]

It's weird.

[Vanessa]

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 Heaneys 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 its purpose, its 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 kitchenaid and all these things in your house? This, your shakedown is, is pretty massive.

[Corinne Vien]

It's also kind of an interest. Like, I wonder how much it was $200.

[Vanessa]

The restaurant version was 350.

[Corinne Vien]

Because I'm like, is that worth the scraps that you're saving in the end of your ketchup bottle?

[Vanessa]

Nope. And also how often are you using that, that you need that in your kitchen.

[Corinne Vien]

Right. And also they have squeeze bottles. There's different tricks with like a knife on the. On the underside of. Yeah.

[Vanessa]

He was hoping to feature his invention on Shark Tank, but because of his felony record, he was not allowed on the show. I think it's like within the last 10 years, you can't have a record. So unfortunately, he has not been on Shark Tank and we do not know how many he has sold.

[Corinne Vien]

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 write 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,

[Vanessa]

which when 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 souls and structure are

[Corinne Vien]

important too, of, like, how to interact with others. It's not there. Yeah. The lyrics, if you were curious about some of them. Aluminum man lives inside of aluminum can. Cooks his eggs on an aluminum pan, leaves 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.

[Vanessa]

Here's my favorite line. He's light as a feather and easy to screw. You can recycle him and make him brand new,

[Corinne Vien]

which is true of aluminum foil. You can recycle that. So if you didn't know. That's true.

[Vanessa]

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 Chili. C H I L L. Yeah, like birth chili. Chili 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 peyote. 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.

[Corinne Vien]

Oh, yeah. Because the Heenies don't give up.

[Vanessa]

We know that they do not.

[Corinne Vien]

The Heenies have continued to pursue music. They initially formed a band together back in 2008 when Richard and Mayumi were on their second episode of Wife Swap. 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 screamo about how the incident is not a hoax.

[Vanessa]

You can watch it. Like this exists on the Internet.

[Corinne Vien]

And in the music video that they created, they pulled a bunch of news headlines from the time, and the music video flashes a bunch of those. 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 this story.

[Vanessa]

So even though they both pled guilty, they for years were like, we aren't actually guilty. We didn't do this. It wasn't a hoax. But in 2019, Mayumi's lawyer, who had represented her when she was charged with lying to the police, reached out to a reporter named Robert Sanchez, who was working on a story about the Heaneys 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 Wife Swap, they had started working with show's 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, the Hinis started brainstorming ways to drum up more interesting and that is when a light bulb went off. They looked at their flying saucer that was half built in their backyard and realized it could be their claim to fame. It had already been on Wife Swap, so it had been tied to Richard's mad scientist image. If he 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 like written down. And then in the writings. Mayumi wrote that Richard would call the FAA in a fake panic. They would track the balloon, a media frenzy would ensue and everyone tune in to make sure little Falcon was okay. No one would know that he was actually hiding in the basement.

[Corinne Vien]

That was the plan.

[Vanessa]

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.

[Corinne Vien]

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 Heaneys were very confused. They looked down there themselves, but they couldn't find him either. And then this is when they started to actually really worry. Because the longer they went without finding Falcon, they started to Wonder if little 6 year old Falcon did get confused and he actually somehow was in the balloon.

[Vanessa]

Yeah.

[Corinne Vien]

So according to Mayumi'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 Mayumi's notes.

[Vanessa]

Notes.

[Corinne Vien]

He'd gotten to know the Heaneys 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, Mayumi backtracked and she told Robert that she'd lied to her attorney to, quote, save herself.

[Vanessa]

Which she could have said like, those notes aren't mine. But instead, she's like, no, he lied,

[Corinne Vien]

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 shitstorm. And on the other end of the line, Robert could hear Mayumi crying as Richard kept yelling. And finally Mayumi said, I'm sorry. And that was the end of the conversation.

[Vanessa]

So the heemis left things very confusing and a little bit concerning.

[Corinne Vien]

Yeah. Are they okay?

[Vanessa]

We don't know. But after everything, I'm like, it does feel like it was a hoax.

[Corinne Vien]

It was a hoax.

[Vanessa]

It feels like it was a hoax. And if you thought that was the end of the story, it is not. Because just one year later, in 2020, they did finally catch a break. The Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, pardoned the Heaneys. He said that they had paid the price for their actions. And in response, the Heaney's lawyer said, quote, the balloonacy has ended. Like, how long did he wait for that?

[Corinne Vien]

I know he was. He was sitting on that pun for a long time.

[Vanessa]

After this pardon, Mayumi became an official US Citizen.

[Corinne Vien]

It was the start of a fresh chapter for the family. But is the balloonacy 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 train Wreck, 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, the Heaneys have a knack for outrageous television. Yeah. Despite how much they've lamented the media, they'd be nothing without it. So as long as there's an audience, they'll probably keep chasing the spotlight.

[Vanessa]

And I will say Falcon has said that it wasn't a hoax. Like, he wasn't told or 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.

[Corinne Vien]

I know. I'm trying to do the math on how old they are.

[Vanessa]

I'm not gonna pretend I can't do it that quickly.

[Corinne Vien]

We'll pretend that we know.

[Vanessa]

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. Thank you so much for listening. We are your hosts, Sabrina and Deanna Roga and and Corinne Vien. Join us next Tuesday for another peek inside another Crimes of Deception. And if there are any other cases you'd like us to cover, please let us know in the comments.

[Corinne Vien]

Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you've heard today, reach out on all social media Rimehouse. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Crimes of wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference.

[Vanessa]

Bye, mommies.