Who is Richard Heene?

Fox News is identifying the family whose 6-year-old son got stuck in their homemade balloon as the Heene family from Fort Collins, Colo. KUSA reported that according to the family and officials, the boy got into the aircraft and untied the rope holding it in place before the balloon floated away.

A 2007 profile of Richard Heene and his family in the Denver Post lists his children as Falcon, Ryo and Bradford. Multiple stories report that the boy in the balloon is 6-year-old Falcon Heene.

The Denver Post writes that Richard Heene is a storm chaser, an amateur scientist and is part of a group called the Psyience Detectives along with former TV weatherman Scott Stevens. The two began a project in which they researched how to better predict storm movements.

ABC News reports that Barbara Slusser, a former colleague of Heene's, said that she and Stevens split with Heene because he often put his kids in danger.

"He loves those kids dearly, but part of the reason my co-host Scott and I split from him is because we felt Heene put his kids in the line of fire a bit too much," Slusser said.

"The last straw for us was when Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike were heading toward the Texas coastline and Heene wanted to go back there and take the kids," she said.

A blog which claims to be authored by a good friend of Richard Heene wrote on his blog, "I have known Richard for over 20 years. He is an amazingly creative human (now turned mad scientist) who insists on repeatedly proving that there is a very fine line between genius and insanity ... I could also tell you how Richard is convinced that he has found the secret of an anti-gravity device in the cyclonic action of tornadoes."

KUSA reports that the Heene family had been building an experimental aircraft with a large helium balloon attached at their home. When reached at his home, ABC News reports that Heene was crying and wasn't watching TV reports. He told ABC News that he hoped the aircraft would one day help people commute to work.

Heene, his wife Mayumi and their three children appeared on the ABC show "WifeSwap," and focused on their love of science on the show.

The "WifeSwap" Web site discusses how Karen Martel moved into the Heene's household and quickly became a storm-chaser. In the Martels' household, Mayumi Heene would shout, "Storm approaching, storm approaching!"

According to DenverPost.com published on Aug. 3, 2007, the Heenes regularly take their sons on most of their storm-chasing missions. "I think they really are having fun," said wife Mayumi. "They get so much more that they can't get from any other entertainment."