In a press conference this afternoon at 2pmET, Jim Alderden, Sheriff of Larimer County in Colorado, told told the press that he would be speaking with the Heene family again following an interview that aired last night conducted by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
There was an interview conducted last night, I believe by Wolf Blitzer on CNN where he asked why he did this. He, I believe, responded, ‘We did it for the show’ or something of that nature. Clearly that has raised everybody’s level of skepticism, again, and we feel it’s incumbent upon us as an agency to go back to the family and attempt to reinterview them and establish whether this is, in fact, a hoax or if it’s a actual event. We believe at this time that it’s a real event.
Though Alderden was grilled by a group of very skeptical reporters, the sheriff maintained that, in his opinion, this was no hoax: “It’s very evident that this boy is very hyperactive, to say the least, and, you know, the suggestion to us that perhaps this boy had been coached or coaxed by his parents to hide and remain still in this attic for five hours during the duration of this event, just seems inconceivable.”
He told the press that the sheriff’s office has been “inundated with phone calls and e-mails nonstop” and felt a press conference was in order to “put an end to it.”
He said the police would interview the family tomorrow after they’ve had a chance to settle down.
When asked “Why all the meetings? Why the consulting of experts?” the sheriff laughed and said, “Cuz yall won’t get off our back!”
The press conference was carried live on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, HLN, and even Fox Business Network (in part).