Mayumi Heene, front, and her son, Ryo, 9, return to the family's home in Fort Collins, Colo., late on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.
(David Zalubowski/AP Photo)More Photos
Some of the family's neighbors have had more positive views of the Heenes.
Their next-door neighbor in Fort Collins, Sarah Duty, told The Denver Post that the couple's three boys were "very polite and so respectful."
Another neighbor, Bob Licko, told the Post that Richard Heene seemed like a caring, responsible parent, even if he gave "free rein" to his sons.
And one of the children Mayumi Heene parented during one of the family's two stints on ABC's "Wife Swap," 15-year-old Andrew Silver, said she was tough.
"She yelled a lot," Silver told the Post. "She had strong emotions."
The couple married on Oct. 12, 1997, in Nevada, and, according to Slusser, from that day on, Richard controlled her life.
Slusser said Mayumi Heene confided in her when Richard wasn't around.
"She so needed a friend," she said. "He kept her isolated and separated from everyone else. She honestly asked me one time, 'Is there something wrong with way we live?' She wasn't sure that American women lived this way with her husbands.
"In the same vein, she would say she was totally happy," Slusser added. "She absolutely loved Richard and her family. If you put her foot to the fire she would say nothing is wrong. It doesn't surprise me that there was a domestic violence problem."
Slusser was referring to last February's 911 call from the Heene home. When a Larimer County Sheriff's deputy responded, he found Mayumi Heene with "a mark in her cheek and broken blood vessels in her left eye," according to the report obtained by ABC's Denver affiliate KMGH-TV. Mayumi Heene told the deputy she was having a problem with her contacts and refused to look the deputy in the eye even after the area around her eye began to swell and turn red, the police report said.
The Larimer County district attorney's office never pressed charges, saying there was a lack of evidence.
On Saturday, the Larimer County Sheriff's Department, concerned about possible violence from Richard Heene against the household, tried to persuade his wife to stay in a safe house. She refused.
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