DENVER, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Child protection workers will determine whether the "balloon boy" was used in a publicity stunt by his parents, a Colorado sheriff said Friday.
Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said at a news conference that the issue needs to be "put to rest" following 6-year-old Falcon Heene's statement he hid in the attic "for a show," The Denver Post reported. Alderden said his deputies will conduct new interviews with Richard and Mayumi Heene of Fort Collins, the boy's parents.
But Alderden described the boy as "hyperactive" and said it was unlikely he would have kept quiet because his parents asked him to. Falcon also said he hid because he thought his father would punish him for interfering with a homemade silver, saucer-shaped weather balloon.
"It seems much more likely that the boy was in fact frightened," Alderden said. "That seems like a credible story."
The parents called 911 Thursday afternoon to report the balloon had launched accidentally and they believed Falcon was on board. The call triggered a frantic air and land effort to track the balloon.
Richard Heene told ABC's "Good Morning America" suggestions he and his wife were using their son for publicity are "pathetic."
"I'm not selling anything. This is what we do all the time," he said. "I don't have a can of beans I'm trying to promote. This is just another day in the life of what we do."
Falcon told CNN's Larry King "we did this for a show" Thursday. But Richard Heene told ABC his son might have been talking about the family's two appearances on "Wife Swap" and CBS, saying he had been confused by TV cameramen who wanted to film him climbing to the garage.
