An interesting tidbit from the Denver (channel 9) broadcast is that the parents called the station requesting the news chopper. It wasn’t clear if the parent’s even called the cops.
I heard that on Fox as soon as the story broke. America chased this thing thinking a boy was inside for two hours. The father built this craft and would know right away that the compartment was gone. They would have immediately broke the news that the basket/compartment was missing.