Gunman sent lover abroad so she wouldn’t stop him
Former Avon lady insists: I have a clean conscience
THe Las vegas gunman sent his girlfriend to the Philippines to stop her interfering with his plans for a massacre, her sister said yesterday.
Stephen Paddock bought Marilou Danley a cheap last-minute ticket to visit relatives in her native country so he could plan the atrocity ‘without interruptions’.
Miss Danley, 62, was being questioned by FBI agents yesterday as a ‘person of interest’ after being escorted through Los Angeles airport in a wheelchair after her return flight.
Her brother said that before she left she assured her family she has a ‘clean conscience’ following the rampage and told them not to worry because she would ‘fix it’.
Investigators hope Miss Danley, who once sold Avon cosmetics, might help them establish a motive behind the mass shooting.
The FBI admitted it was still trying to understand why Paddock, a retired accountant with no criminal record or history of violence, used assault rifles to gun down hundreds at a music festival.
Deputy director Andrew McCabe said: ‘We are not there yet. We have a lot to do.’ The bureau is attempting to trace ‘everyone and anyone who crossed his path in recent weeks’. At least 527 were injured and 130 of these are still in hospital, 48 of them in a critical condition.
Miss Danley, a grandmother, will be questioned about Paddock’s state of mind and what she knew about his collection of 42 guns.
Agents want to know the extent of his gambling addiction and why he apparently sent her $100,000 to a bank account in the Philippines days before the massacre.
One of Miss Danley’s two sisters told how Paddock ‘sent away’ his girlfriend. Speaking from Queensland, Australia, on condition of anonymity, the sister said: ‘She didn’t even know she was going until Steve said, “Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines”. He sent her away so he can plan what he is planning without interruptions.
‘Marilou seemed madly in love with Steve. If Marilou was there this maybe didn’t happen because she would not let it happen.’
Speaking to Australian Tv channel 7 News, she insisted Miss Danley played no part in the atrocity, adding: ‘She was even more shocked than us … To find out the person you love and live with can do such a thing [ when] you thought you know the person yourself …’. Her sister thinks Miss Danley knew Paddock owned guns, but did not realise the extent of his arsenal. She added: ‘ No one can put the puzzles together. No one except Marilou.’
Miss Danley flew to Manila on September 15. Wearing a hat and a blue jacket, she voluntarily returned to the US to ‘clear her name’, a police official said.
In the Philippines, her brother Reynaldo Bustos told ABC News: ‘I called her up immediately and she said, “Relax, we shouldn’t worry about it. I’ll fix it. Do not panic. I have a clean conscience”.’ It remains unclear why she was being wheeled through the airport after she landed at 7.17pm local time on Tuesday.
Miss Danley first met Paddock five years ago at a casino inside Atlantis Hotel in Reno, Nevada, where she was a hostess for high rollers. They moved into a house in Reno before moving to a retirement community in Mesquite, about 90 miles from Las vegas.
Paddock’s brother eric said his sibling doted on Miss Danley, and had ‘manipulated her to be as far away from here and safe when he committed this. As he was Questions: Marilou Danley descending into hell he took care of her. She was probably one of the only people he’d go out of his way to do a little thing for.’
From his home in Orlando, Florida, he added: ‘Steve expected people to wait on him … but he waited on her sometimes … He would defer to her in the way he wouldn’t to the rest of humanity.’
However, a manager at a local Starbucks said she often spotted Paddock berating his girlfriend.
esperanza Mendoza said: ‘He would glare down at her and say, with a mean attitude, “You don’t need my casino card for this. I’m paying for your drink, just like I’m paying for you”.’
Miss Danley moved to the US from Australia in 1989 after her first husband died. A year later she married Geary Danley, whom she divorced in 2015.
Yesterday Donald Trump and wife Melania visited some of the injured in Las vegas.
The President also met police and first responders who had dealt with the tragedy.
Before leaving Washington on Air Force One, Mr Trump said: ‘We’re going to pay our respects and to see the police who have done really a fantastic job in a very short time.’