'Balloon boy' makes curious comment

Posted: Oct 16, 2009 7:38 AM EDT
Updated: Oct 16, 2009 7:40 AM EDT

FORT COLLINS, CO - The 6-year-old Colorado boy thought to have floated off in a homemade balloon has raised questions whether it might have been a family stunt.

During a live interview on CNN, Falcon Heene said he heard his family calling his name as he hid in the rafters of their garage. At the time, there was a frantic effort to bring down the balloon safely.

Falcon's father asked, "Why didn't you come out?"
The boy answered, "You had said we did this for a show."

After the CNN interview, the father said he didn't know what his son meant.

The boys' parents have appeared twice in the ABC reality show "Wife Swap." The show promoted the Heene family as storm chasers who also "devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."

Richard Heene adamantly has denied the notion that the whole thing was a big publicity stunt.

Before the interview, a local sheriff in Fort Collins, CO., said there was no evidence of a hoax.