Marilou Danley, the girlfriend of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, returned to the United States from the Philippines on Tuesday, October 3. Though the 62-year-old was met by FBI agents upon landing at LAX, she was not placed under arrest, The New York Times reports.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo, whose department is leading the investigation into the shooting, called Danley a “person of interest,” at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. Investigators hope she can shed some light on the motivation behind Paddock’s alleged killing rampage.
As previously reported, Paddock, a 64-year-old retired accountant, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 1. The massacre left 59 dead and more than 525 injured.
Police responded to the incident and found Paddock dead in his hotel room from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot.
Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the attack — and her two sisters, who spoke to Australia 7 News, are claiming she was completely in the dark. (The siblings did not want to be identified by name).
“I know that she don’t know anything as well like us. She was sent away. She was away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he’s planning,” one of the women told 7 News on Tuesday. “In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister’s life.”
The other sister said Paddock booked Danley a surprise trip to Asia. “[She] didn’t event know that she was going to the Philippines until Steve said, ‘Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines,” she claimed.
Danley and Paddock met several years ago when she was working as a hostess at a Reno, Nevada, casino. NBC News reported that Paddock wired $100,000 to an account in the Philippines in the week before the mass shooting.
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