Netflix’s Trainwreck series is set to release its latest dissection of a true Crime phenomenon, this time focused on a bizarre viral incident referred to as ‘Balloon Boy.’
Following on from their documentary about the Carnival Cruise Line ‘Poop Cruise’ and more recently the ‘Real Project X’, they are tomorrow releasing the latest Trainwreck instalment, Trainwreck: Balloon Boy.
The documentary will explore a viral incident in which news reports began circulating in 2009 that a young boy had been blown away 7,000 feet into the air after being trapped inside a helium UFO.
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The six year old boy, Falcon, had gone missing whilst his father had been working on his invention of a helium balloon shaped like a flying saucer.
After multiple searches of the house and a claim from Falcon’s brother that he’d seen him trying to climb inside, his family decided that he must be in the helium balloon which had blown away.
Falcon’s Dad, Richard Heene, called news crews asking for them to follow it with helicopters.
Police came and did multiple sweeps of the house, and the consensus opinion ultimately became that the six-year-old had indeed climbed into the helium balloon and was potentially careening to his death.
As recounted by Falcon in the Netflix doc as part of his first televised interview since 2009, however, he was in actual fact asleep in the attic the entire time.
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He had tried to clamber into the balloon but gave up at a certain point, heading to a hiding spot there and falling asleep.
Once he woke up, Falcon came downstairs to the shock of his parents, leading to what you would assume is a happy ending for the family.
Trouble began for Richard and Falcon’s mother Mayumi when they agreed to a sit down interview with Wolf Blitzer.
When asked whether he heard his family calling for him he replied ‘yes’ to Richard’s shock, leading Blitzer to ask why he didn’t come out when he heard it.
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Falcon replied: “You guys said that we did this for the show.”
This massively changed the national narrative and Richard and Mayumi were both eventually charged, with the incident branded a ‘hoax.’
The pair were sentenced 90 days in jail and 20 days in weekend jail respectively, along with a $36,000 fine for restitution.
Mayumi and Richard continue to maintain their innocence in the documentary, however, both claiming they were pressured to cop to guilty pleas.
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This was denied by a Larimer County Sheriff information officer Jim Alderden, who claimed that Richard had been trying to get a TV show about their family and pointed to this as a possible motive.
Richard and Mayumi were pardoned in December of 2020 in a move that Alderden claimed was done without contacting any law enforcement officers linked to the case.
Trainwreck: Balloon Boy releases on Netflix July 15.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Viral, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin