Marilou Danely, girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, is back in the United States. According to Danley's sisters, Paddock encouraged her to leave the country before the brutal attack that left 58 people dead.
The sisters held their names back and wanted their faces blurred out when talking to the media. One of the sisters told Seven News from their home in Australia:
"She was sent away. She was sent away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he's planning. In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister's life."
She added that Marilou Danley was "really in love with Steve."
Danley arrived at LAX late last night from the Philippines, and is being questioned at the FBI's Los Angeles field office.
One of the sisters said that Danely didn't know anything ahead of the shooting:
"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.'
Of all the people that they have interviewed ... no one can put the puzzles together -- no one -- except Marilou, because Steve is not here to talk anymore. Only Marilou can maybe help. If Marilou was there, this, maybe, as well, didn't happen because she won't let it happen."
62-year-old Danley, who travels on an Australian passport, arrived in the Philippines from Tokyo on September 15th. Then she went to Hong Kong on September 22nd, and flew back to the Philippines on September 25th.
Stephen Paddock wired her $100,000 to the Philippines. Officials are still trying to pinpoint the exact date of the transer.
Danley lived with Paddock in Mesquite, Nevada. It's still not clear how the two met.