911 call from balloon incident released

Falcon Heene's mother, Mayumi, tearfully tells 911 dispatchers that her son was gone, in audiotape released Friday from the Fort Collins balloon drama. Shortly afterward, a massive air and land search was launched for the little boy.

She said the boy was gone, and so was what she described as a "flying saucer," which is exactly what the 20-foot around by 5-foot tall home-built balloon looked like.

Richard Heene, the boy's father, then describes the homemade balloon and some of its capabilities. He is clearly upset about the situation.

This call was made at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday after the couple searched the house on Fossil Ridge Drive in Fort Collins for the 6-year-old. He tells the dispatcher the boy has no way to control the craft, and that the wind was blowing the balloon to the southeast toward the Loveland airport.

Listen to the 911 Call

The balloon floated to the ground in an Adams County field about 55 miles southeast of the Heene's home just about three hours after it floated away.

The family had been preparing the balloon for some experimental activity. Richard Heene said he raised his voice to make Falcon stop crawling around inside. He said later that Falcon became upset.

The little boy was found hiding in an attic at the house five hours after the ordeal began. He remained undetected even though police had conducted what they thought was two thorough searches of the home.