They think maybe a box was attached to the bottom...and that a police officer might’ve seen it fall off.
Sheriff’s department saying the balloon landed in the same condition as when it took off, there was no basket. They are now focusing the search on a park southeast of the boy’s home.
The point is that with the extra weight of the child how could it have enough lift? IOW there wasn’t obviously enough lift to keep it aloft when it came down. How could it have lifted off with another 50 pounds?