According to pieces of her testimony leaked to the press, Marilou Danley, the live-in girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, has provided some disturbing details about the man who is responsible for committing the most deadly mass shooting in the history of the country.
Maintaining that she knew nothing whatsoever about his plans to carry out a massacre, Danley, 62, reportedly told investigators that Paddock had been exhibiting “mental health symptoms.”
According to NBC News, two former FBI officials “briefed on the matter” say that Danley told investigators that Paddock would sometimes lie in bed “moaning and screaming.”
“She said he would lie in bed, just moaning and screaming, ‘Oh my God,'” the sources told NBC.
According to the network, the sources say investigators believe Paddock “may have been in physical or mental anguish.” However, two FBI officials told NBC that they have not yet been able to identify a clear motive — and do not believe that his mental health issues “had deteriorated to a point that would have triggered him to commit such an act.”
The Las Vegas Journal-Review reported Wednesday that Paddock was prescribed and filled the anti-anxiety medication diazepam in June; the same doctor prescribed the drug to Paddock the previous year. Diazepam can have potentially dangerous side effects, including aggressive behavior, decreased inhibitions, unusual risk-taking behavior, and suicidal thoughts.
Other reports have indicated that Paddock at times exhibited some “bizarre” behavior in public, including an extreme aversion to dust and allergens.
In a statement issued through her attorney Wednesday afternoon, Danley said it “never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.” Paddock, she said, “never said anything to me, or took any action that I was aware of, that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.”
“I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man,” she said. “I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him.”
Echoing claims made by her sisters in an interview earlier this week, Danley said that about two weeks before his trip to Las Vegas, Paddock bought her a plane ticket to the Philippines, where she had been visiting with family until she returned to the States this week.
While she was there, he wired $100,000 to an account, which Danley says he told her was intended for her so she could purchase a house for herself and her family. She said his actions “worried” her because she thought he might be “breaking up” with her.
According to Danley’s attorney and sources, she is fully cooperating with investigators.