WORLD Partner returns for FBI grilling

AUSTRALIAN grandmother Marilou Danley was detained by FBI agents for questioning about the Las Vegas massacre as she arrived back in the United States yesterday

Ms Danley, 62, was the long- term partner of professional gambler and former accountant Stephen Paddock, who on Sunday night became the US’s worst mass murderer.

Authorities had not ruled out a terrorist link to Ms Danley’s country of birth, the Philippines, to which Paddock wired $ US100,000 ($ 127,600) the week before the massacre.

Public records have revealed that over three decades Ms Danley used two social security numbers and was married to two men at one time.

She lived in several different states, has held different surnames, and even stated different ages, according to an investigation by Newsweek.

Divorce records show she was Marilou Natividad when she wed Geary Danley in 1990, shortly after arriving in the US.

She wed Jose Bustos and took his name in 1996, but did not divorce Danley until 2015.

The former Gold Coast resident was in the Philippines when Paddock, 64, killed 59 country music fans and injured more than 500 at an outdoor country music festival.

Police found her casino- issued identification, known as a “player’s card”, in his room, which was littered with weapons and spent ammunition.

A frequent traveller who regularly returned to Australia, where she has family on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Ms Danley left America for Hong Kong on September 25.

Yesterday, she arrived from the Philippines and was detained by the FBI.

“The investigation with her is ongoing and we anticipate some further information from her shortly,” said Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

“Currently she is a person of interest,” he said.

Paddock’s Florida- based brother Eric Paddock yesterday disputed there was anything questionable about the six- figure wire transfer.

Mr Paddock said of Ms Danley that his brother may have “manipulated her so that she was far away from this and had money … he wanted to take care of her”.

However, such behaviour would differ from that portrayed by acquaintances who said yesterday they had often seen Paddock behaving abusively towards Ms Danley.