Mayumi Iizuka Heene: the Balloon Boy's Japanese Mother

Mayumi Heene née Iizuka
(飯塚真由美)

See also:

-> AFFIDAVIT: MAYUMI HEENE CONFESSES TO BALLOON BOX HOAX

-> Balloon Boy's Parents: $42,000 fine

-> Balloon Boy's Parents: Sentenced to 90 and 20 days!

The Asian wife of reality TV wanna-be producer, Richard A. Heene, has had some people wondering whether she was Japanese-American or native-Japanese.

Evidently, it's the latter ... Mayumi Iizuka ( 飯塚 真由美) is her maiden name and according to Japanese news reports, originally from Gifu Prefecture in Central Japan. She was born January 2nd 1964 and is 45 years old.


The two apparently met in Los Angeles at the while students at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Los Angeles. They were married on October 12th 1997 in Clark County, Nevada according to public records.

Other blog reports indicate that Richard Alan Heene, (48; dob: September 11th, 1961) aka "Rich" Heene at one time used to live and work in Kobe, Japan - most likely as a Charisma Man engrish teacher.

According to TMZ, Richard Heene also has a criminal record in L.A. and was sentenced to jail. Heene was arrested in April 1997 and charged with misdemeanor vandalism, vehicle tampering, and disturbing the peace. On April 15, 1997, Heene pleaded no contest to vandalism and the other charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 2 years probation and ordered to pay restitution of $100. TMZ indicates the court record shows that Heene served only 4 days and was then placed under house arrest. The case was prosecuted by the L.A. City Attorney.


They currently rent a modest 2-story 3-bedroom single-family home at: 5434 Fossil Ridge Drive West, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525-3822 USA Tel: +1 (970) 204-0482 e-mail: myyoume@earthlink.net

Another post on a Japan discussion board indicates that the couple appear to be dependent on remittances from her parents in Japan as well as being subject to "informal" investigations by a nosy Big Brother neighbor and state patrolman named "Danny":

The Heene family lives a few doors down from my old house in Fort Collins, Colorado. My former neighbor, a state patrolman, says that the Heene's have very strange sources of income. That is, Richard Heene claimed to be a contractor up until three years ago (but he never had a contractors license) and he also has stated he owned his newish house free-and-clear (which was true according to country records).

My neighbor, Danny, the state patrolman said that the Heene family finances were so suspicious that he informally investigated them a couple of times: No drug money--just wire transfers of HUGE amounts of money from Japan.

clicky for the original:


On October 17th 2009, Mayumi Heene, who did not have the benefit of legal counsel at that time, apparently made a confession to the police that it was a hoax. In an affidavit produced by the Larimer County Sheriff's office:

"On October 17, 2009, Mayumi Heene told your affiant that she and Richard Heene had lied to authorities on October 15, 2009. That the release of the flying saucer was intentional as a hoax, that she and Richard Heene knew all along that Falcon was hiding in the residence. The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest.”