10 years ago today

didn't know about this, or forgot, can you give a quick rundown of the story?

I don't remember very well either. But from what I can recall the wife, who wasn't a very good english speaker, accidentally admited that it was a hoax without fully understanding the meaning of the word. She thought the word meant a missunderstanding or the like. Then, the father was told to bite the bullet and admit it was a hoax (even though it wasn't) and publicly apologise. Seeing that his whole family was at risk (kids being taken away and wife deported) he decided to take the humiliation and not take any chances of being separated from his family.

Also, I don't remember if it was this same story or I'm getting mixed up but I think the police had something to gain from the outcome of the case. Maybe a promotion, so they had reason to push around the family.
If you want concrete information, then check out internet historian as said above. He really does explain things a lot better

Wait. I think I misunderstood your question. The known story is that the father was trying to build a balloon (I think) and went for a test run to fly it. His youngest child told the dad that the oldest child was inside the balloon. The dad called the cops and the media got involved. At the end, it turned out that the oldest child was hiding in the house attic. The oldest child went on to say that his father told him to hide and the mother admitted to the whole thing being a hoax.

now that rings a bell, thanks