The girlfriend of the man who opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas Sunday night has returned to the United States and is believed to be speaking to federal investigators.
The Associated Press reports that Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend Marilou Danley was met but the FBI when she arrived to Los Angeles International airport Tuesday night from the Philippines, on the same day that the Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said that Danley was being treated as a person of interest in the mass shooting investigation. Earlier reports said that Danley was expected to return to U.S. soil on Wednesday.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Danley was in her native Philippines on Sunday night when Paddock opened fire on a crowd of thousands who were attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert. Paddock shot at the crowd from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, killing 59 and injuring over 500 more.
About a week before the shooting, Paddock reportedly wired $100,000 to the Philippines. Authorities have not yet determined the exact date or purpose of the wire transfer or who the recipient was. But Danley’s sisters, who live in Australia, told a CNN affiliate they believed Paddock sent his girlfriend to the Philippines because he knew he would be carrying out the deadly attack.
“She was sent away. She was away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he’s planning,” one of Danley’s sisters told 7 News.
“In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister’s life.”
The woman told the news station that her sister was “really in love” with Paddock.
According to the Washington Post, Danley and Paddock met several years ago when the woman was working as a hostess at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nevada. Stephen’s brother Eric Paddock told the newspaper that they were a happy couple who enjoyed gambling together.
“They were adorable — big man, tiny woman. He loved her. He doted on her,” Eric said.
But as CrimeOnline previously reported, a manager at a Starbucks who frequently saw the couple together said that Paddock was verbally abusive to his girlfriend.
The shooter’s brother shared the same view as Danley’s sisters — that his brother wanted his girlfriend far away from the scene of the carnage.
The Washington Post reports that Paddock was twice-married and divorced. Both women declined a request for an interview.
Paddock and Danley are believed to have been a couple since at least 2013, when Paddock reportedly joined her on a trip to visit family in the Philippines.
Authorities are reportedly hoping that Danley can shed some light on the suspected mass killer’s intentions.
“No one can put the puzzles together, no one, except Marilou, because Steve is not here to talk anymore,” one of her sisters told a CNN affiliate.
“Only Marilou can maybe help.”
