First the nation sat riveted to the story of little six-year-old Falcon Heene, who, they thought, was sailing over Colorado in a runaway balloon. Turned out Falcon was safe at home, hiding in the attic. Reporters asked Falcon's dad, Richard Heene, why Falcon would hide like that.
"He said it's because I yelled at him," said Richard Heene, who lived in Burbank a few years ago. "I'm sorry I yelled at him."
His former landlady is dubious. When Heene rented a home from Carrie Cavalier in Burbank a few years ago, he wasn't exactly the picture of resposibility.
Heene lived in Burbank for a few years, trying to live the Hollywood dream. He met Cavalier before she rented him her home, and she took headshots for him, so he could pursue an acting career that never got off the ground.
"So, of course, you know, I let him rent it," she said. "And he was supposed to pay me money and the rent was late."
Things went sour soon after she rented the house. By the time he skipped town in 2007, moving the family to Colorado, Heene owed Cavalier $6,000, she said.
"He was supposed to pay me security and last month's rent, and then I said, why don't you fix my roof," she said.
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He claimed he fixed the roof, Cavalier said -- but it still leaked.
"He just never followed through with it, " she says.
When Heene left, she took pictures of the damage he left behind. And she's still waiting for her rent money.
