Shooter’s companion a Filipina-Australian grandmother

SYDNEY: Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock’s “regular companion” was a Filipina-Australian woman who moved to the United States 20 years ago to work on the casino strip, the government confirmed Tuesday.
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Marilou Danley, 62, was initially said to be a “person of interest” but has since been cleared of any involvement in the shooting.

American authorities said she was out of the country at the time retired accountant Paddock, 64, unleashed his reign of terror on concert-goers from a hotel window.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop tweeted: “I understand US authorities have ruled out Australian Marilou Danley as a person of interest.”

“There are reports her ID was used for booking the hotel or some such detail. Australia will support the US authorities in their investigation in whatever way we can, but we have not had contact with Marilou Danley directly.”

US reports and officials said she is either in the Philippines or Japan, although neither country was able to confirm her whereabouts. Australian media said she was on holiday in the Philippines with three girlfriends.

The Philippine Bureau of Immigration on Tuesday afternoon could not confirm or deny that Danley was in the country, and that she arrived on Monday.

Airport sources said Danley arrived in September from Las Vegas. She left the country, possibly on a trip to Hong Kong, and returned to Manila three days later.

News Corp. Australia newspapers said the Filipino-Australian used to live on the Gold Coast tourist strip and still had a sister there.

The newspaper cited friends as saying she resided on the Gold Coast for more than a decade and was married to an Australian man who has since died.

She moved to the US about 20 years ago and reportedly shared a house with Paddock in a new golf course development in the desert just outside Mesquite, Nevada, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.