Who Is Marilou Danley, Las Vegas Gunman’s Girlfriend? 5 Facts

LAS VEGAS, NV — Marilou Danley, who lived with Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, may hold some of the answers to investigators’ questions as they try to figure out what motivated the well-heeled, 64-year-old professional gambler and real estate investor to unleash hundreds of rounds of ammunition on an unsuspecting crowd of concertgoers Sunday, killing 59, including himself, and wounding more than 500 others.

Danley, 62, isn’t considered a suspect in the investigation and she has been in contact with investigators while traveling in the Philippines, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. Authorities are bringing her back to the United States Wednesday to question her more about what, if anything, she may have known of Paddock’s plans for the ruthless attack on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.

Investigators found 19 firearms, explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the home Paddock and Danley shared in a tidy retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada — enough firepower to suggest Danley may have useful information, Lombardo said. (For updates on the shooting and daily news from Las Vegas, sign up for the Patch morning newsletter and breaking news alerts.)

Those munitions are in addition to 23 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition found in the high-rise hotel room at the Mandalay Bay. From Paddock’s car, investigators also recovered several pounds of ammonium nitrate — a compound used to make bombs, including one that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995, killing 168 and injuring more than 680.

“We are continuing the investigation into that female,” Lombardo said of Danley. “There are several questions that need to be answered.”

See Also

• Las Vegas Shooting: Heroes Shine In City’s Darkest Hour
• Police, Survivors Look For Motive Behind Concert Massacre
• Las Vegas Shooting: These Are The Victims
• Las Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock Armed To The Teeth

Paddock, whose meticulous planning of the massacre included setting up surveillance cameras inside his hotel room and on a service cart outside his hotel room, killed himself before a SWAT team blew open the door to the high-rise hotel room Sunday night.

Here are five facts to know about Danley:

1. Danley flew to the Philippines on Sept. 15, two weeks before the shooting. On Sept. 22, she flew from Manila to Hong Kong, then flew back to Manila on Sept. 25, ABC News reported. The Filipino-born Danley is an Australian citizen who uses an Australian passport when she travels, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reported.

“As he was descending into hell … he wanted to take care of her,” the stunned brother of the assassin said.

3. Danley is a “wonderful woman,” Betty Dixon, a neighbor of Danley and Paddock, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “She is so warm, so outgoing. She was so sweet.” Eric Paddock also described her as “a nice lady” who sent his mother cookies.

4. Danley’s LinkedIn profile listed her last job as a high-limit hostess at Club Paradise in the four-diamond Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno. Casino spokeswoman Teresa Dew told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Danley left her job several years ago and that officials are “cooperating with law enforcement and support their efforts to investigate and address this tragedy.”

5. Danley and Geary Danley, now a resident of Arkansas, were divorced on Feb. 25, 2015, after a 25-year marriage, the Gazette-Journal said. At the time of the divorce, she listed her address as a downtown Reno condominium unit that Paddock owned. She began living there in 2013, the newspaper said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP