Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend Marilou Danley returns to US

THE sisters of Las Vegas mass murderer Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend Marilou Danley said she had been sent away so as not to interfere with his plans.

THE sisters of Marilou Danley said she was “sent away” by Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock so as not to interfere with his deadly plans.

Danley’s sisters, who chose to remain anonymous, told Channel 7, she was given a “cheap ticket” to the Philippines with no warning.

“I know that she doesn’t know anything as well like us,” said one of the women.

“She was sent away. She was away so that she will not be there to interfere with what he’s planning.”

They said the 62-year-old former Queenslander who moved to Las Vegas 20 years ago might be the last person who can “put the puzzles together” as to Paddock’s motives.

“She didn’t even know that she was going to the Philippines until Steve said ‘Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines’,” they said.

“In that sense I thank him for sparing my sister’s life. But that won’t be to compensate the 59 peoples’ lives.”

The tearful women insisted their sister was “a good person and gentle soul” but suggested she might be able to assist authorities in their investigations.

“No-one can put the puzzles together. No one. Except Marilou. Because Steve is not here to talk anymore. Only Marilou can maybe help.”

Twitter video grab believed to be Marilou Danley, girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, arriving at Los Angeles Picture: Supplied/ NBC Twitter

The jet that Marilou Danley is thought to have arrived in from Manila. Picture: Supplied/ Twitter

It comes as the Filipino-Australian woman arrives back in the US for questioning from a flight from Manila. She was met by FBI agents and video aired by US TV network NBC has shown Ms Danley being pushed through LAX Airport in a wheelchair by an official.

Investigators want to know why her boyfriend Stephen Paddock, 64, meticulously planned and then executed a sniper attack from the 32nd floor of his suite in the Mandalay Bay casino that killed 59 concertgoers and injured more than 500 others on Sunday.

They are also keen to understand why $US100,000 ($A127,600) was wired by him to the Philippines.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: The family of the Las Vegas gunman's girlfriend break their silence on @7News. #LasVegas #7News pic.twitter.com/IBrlLjyo0H

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) October 4, 2017

Ms Danley, an Australian citizen born in the Philippines, had been sharing Paddock’s home at a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, 130km northeast of Las Vegas, according to public records.

There is some confusion about Ms Danley’s whereabouts for the last few weeks. She was not in the US at the time of the shooting with reports placing her in the Philippines for the entire time or in Hong Kong and Japan prior to travelling to her country of birth.

Facebook images of Marilou Danley who set to be questioned as part of the investigation into the Las Vegas shooter incident.

“We have a lot of questions, I can tell you that,” Las Vegas Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters on Tuesday.

At an earlier briefing, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo reiterated police had no other suspects in the shooting itself.

Investigators initially distanced Paddock’s murderous rampage from terrorism but with the lack of a motive, Ms Danley’s presence in the Philippines and reports Paddock wired $US100,000 ($A127,600) to the terrorism hot spot, authorities refused to rule it out.

“We haven’t absolutely ruled out anything in this investigation,” said Undersheriff McMahill when asked about a potential Philippines terrorism link.

“We have a lot more questions than we have answers today.”

However, a senior US homeland security official, who has been briefed regularly on the probe but spoke on condition of anonymity, said the working assumption of investigators was the money was intended as a form of life insurance payment for Ms Danley.

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock sharing a meal with Marilou Danley's family in Manilla in 2013.

The official said US authorities were eager to question Ms Danley, who described herself on social media websites as a “casino professional”, mother and grandmother, about whether Paddock encouraged her to leave the US before he went on his rampage.

Undersheriff McMahill said the FBI had financial subpoenas to determine Paddock’s money movement.

Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Ms Danley was “a person of interest” and her US arrival meant a “substantial amount” of information on Paddock’s potential motives would emerge in the next 48 hours.

Marilou Danley, the alleged girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.

Forty-seven firearms were recovered from three locations searched by investigators — Paddock’s hotel suite, his home in Mesquite and another property associated with him in Reno, Nevada.

Ms Danley moved in the early 1980s from the Philippines to Queensland where she lived for around 10 years and took out Australian citizenship before moving to the US, where she worked at casinos.

Her nephew Jordan Knights in Brisbane said he met Paddock on a recent trip to Las Vegas with his mother.

“Didn’t seem like the type of guy that could do that,” Mr Knights told the Nine Network.

“I didn’t even know he knew about guns.”

TWO HUSBANDS

Reports have emerged that Ms Danley may have had two social security numbers and been married to two men for a time.

Newsweek reported she married Geary Danley in 1990 and took his surname. She then married Jose Bustos in 1996 but didn’t divorce Mr Danley until 2015, divorce records show.

She has social security numbers in both Nevada and California, the publication said, with the former ID stating she is 62 while the latter has her as 55 years old.

Locals in Mesquite have also said all was not well in her relationship and Paddock could be verbally abusive towards her.

The Los Angeles Times spoke to people who remembered Paddock being nasty towards Ms Danley.

“It happened a lot,” Esperanza Mendoza, supervisor of a local Starbucks coffee shop in the casino recalled.

Whenever he and Ms Danley came in for coffee she would offer to pay, Ms Mendoza said.

“He would glare down at her and say — with a mean attitude — ‘You don’t need (a) casino card for this. I’m paying for your drink, just like I’m paying for you.’

“Then she would softly say, ‘OK’ and step back behind him. He was so rude to her in front of us.”