No Sign of Balloon Boy, Son of Richard Heene, Investigators Say as the Search for Balloon Boy Continues

The frantic search for Falcon Heene, a.k.a., the Balloon Boy, continues when his family's hot air balloon collapses with no sign of the boy anywhere nearby. This begs the question, was the boy ever in the balloon when it lifted off from the family's home in Colorado?

Apparently Falcon Heene's two brothers saw him climb in the balloon, which was pegged to the ground behind the family's home at the time, and begin to drift up, up and away. His parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, use the balloon for storm-chasing and scientific experiments.

If you recognized pictures of the boy on CNN and wonder why, you're not alone. Millions of viewers saw the family twice on ABC's "Wife Swap," where devil-may-care Mayumi Heene traded places with safety aficionado Karen Martel. So Falcon Heene is not at all unaccustomed to the spotlight. However, he's not necessarily getting it directly this time, as he is still missing, hopefully somewhere near his home in Colorado.

The search has now involved officials from local police departments, the military, and the FAA in trying to recover poor little balloon boy. They were successful at tracking down the balloon before it landed on its own, but they have yet to report any sightings of the balloon boy.

Evidently both parents were at home when Falcon let the balloon loose. A neighbor reports that his older brothers began videotaping him while his mother and father frantically searched around the house for the balloon boy. Neighbors and watchers commented that the balloon seemed to be traveling very fast.

For what it's worth, the balloon boy has several high-profile celebrities praying for him on the Twitter network. Stars like Ryan Seacrest, Lauren Conrad, Alyssa Milano, and more have all tweeted their thoughts and concerns for the boy, though these will be of little consolation to the family until the balloon boy is actually found.

Yahoo reported that the Colorado Army National Guard has even sent out Kiowa and Black Hawk helicopters in search of the balloon boy. How long the search will continue has not yet been determined, but police and other investigators are not ruling out any possibilities, especially the notion that Falcon may have never even entered into the balloon basket, or may have bailed out of it before it got too high up in the sky.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon