Balloon Boy

The mother of "balloon boy" Falcon Heene admits she and her husband lied to authorities about their son floating away in a homemade balloon, according to a new court document.

Mayumi Heene told a sheriff's investigator last Saturday that she and her husband, Richard, knew all along that Falcon, 6, was hiding in the family's Colorado home while police and other rescuers chased the flying saucer-shaped balloon, believing the boy was trapped inside, according to a search warrant affidavit released Friday.

The affidavit states the parents planned the hoax for about two weeks and that the helium balloon was constructed especially for the alleged stunt.

"The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest," wrote investigator Robert Hefferman. "She and Richard had instructed their three children to lie to authorities as well as the media regarding the hoax."

The Oct. 15 drama dominated television networks, which followed the progress of the runaway balloon as it drifted thousands of metres into the atmosphere before making a soft landing three hours later and 80 kilometres away from the family's Fort Collins home, outside Denver.

Falcon was found hiding in a cardboard box in the attic of the home's garage.

The story began to fall apart when the family appeared soon after on CNN. During the appearance, Richard Heene, an inventor and storm-chaser, asked his son why he didn't come out of the attic when his name was called.

"You guys said that, hmm, we did this for the show," said Falcon.

Richard Heene said he had "no idea" why his son answered in that fashion, and denied it was a hoax.

Police have said they plan to charge the parents with conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public servant, as well as a misdemeanour of filing a false police report. No charges have yet been laid.

Authorities will also seek reimbursement of the cost of the rescue, which could run to hundreds of thousands of dollars. At one point it included a plan to dangle a rescuer from a helicopter to snatch the boy from the balloon.