Major Clue Missing in Las Vegas Shooter Investigation

Circumstances surrounding Paddock's massacre have made his motive yet unclear, nearly a month later.

By Liberty McArtor Published on October 26, 2017

Twenty-three guns. Surveillance cameras. A laptop. 

That’s what police found on the 32nd floor room of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on October 1. Stephen Paddock had just unleashed hellfire on a crowd a few hundred yards away enjoying the Route 91 Harvest festival. The 64-year-old killed almost 60 and wounded over 500. As police approached his room, he slew himself. 

Nearly a month later, Paddock’s motive still remains unclear. But on Wednesday, sources close to the investigation revealed one new mystery adding to the murkiness: The hard drive from Paddock’s laptop is gone.

Sources told ABC News that authorities believe Paddock removed the hard drive before his shooting spree. But where is it? Sources also told ABC that Paddock bought software capable of erasing hard drives. But the hard drive itself is gone. Who knows whether he used that software?

Rich and Law-Abiding

In addition to reports of the missing hard drive, news broke Wednesday of Paddock’s brother Bruce Paddock, 58. Bruce, who has a criminal record dating back to the 80s, was arrested Wednesday for suspicion of possession of child pornography. As NBC Los Angeles reports, in 2014, a criminal complaint was filed against Bruce accusing him of sexual exploitation of a child. Other crimes in his past include theft and vandalism.

At the time of the massacre, Bruce told NBC News he hadn’t talked with Paddock in a decade.

Bruce isn’t Paddock’s only relative with troubled past. Their father was a bank robber, on the FBI’s most wanted list, and a diagnosed psychopath. He died nearly 20 years ago.

Paddock himself had no criminal record, until he became the deadliest mass shooter in American history.

What did Paddock have? Money. Lots of it. TIME delved into the details of his financial profile earlier this month. Reporter Brad Tuttle noted that “Paddock had two planes, owned multiple homes, and regularly dropped tens of thousands of dollars in Vegas casinos.” 

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But according to his brother Eric Paddock, 57, that wasn’t a big deal.

“$100,000 isn’t that much money …. He gambled that much through a machine in hours,” Eric said. He went on, “He helped make me and my family wealthy.” And he hadn’t held normal employment since the 80’s. Paddock called himself “a professional gambler by trade.”

TIME noted the connection researchers have discovered between psychopaths and serial gambling. Psychopathy can also be hereditary. But neither Bruce nor Eric were aware of Paddock suffering from mental illness, despite their father’s history.

Throughout the years, Paddock also owned properties in California, Florida, Texas and Nevada. 

“He’s a multimillionaire,” Eric said. And intelligent. “He could have done anything he wanted to do. And he did.”

The Missing Motive

Paddock wasn’t an avid gun owner. At least, not to Eric’s knowledge. The younger brother said he knew Paddock owned five guns. But nothing like the arsenal authorities found after the massacre.

There were 23 guns in the Las Vegas hotel room Paddock had stayed in for three days. Several of them were modified with a bump stock. The piece of equipment allows a semi-automatic rifle to fire multiple rounds per second, mimicking the rapid-fire capability of fully automatic weapons. 

At Paddock’s home in Mesquite, Nevada, authorities found 19 more guns, The Washington Post reported. They also found Tannerite and ammonium nitrate, used to make bombs, in Paddock’s car, and more Tannerite in Paddock’s home.

The LA Times reported that Paddock began stocking up on the weapons a year ago in October 2016. But his relatives and acquaintances, including his girlfriend Marilou Danley, have all expressed shock at his attack on October 1. Many acquaintances described him as anti-social, avoiding human interaction whenever possible, the Post reported.

As TIME points out, Paddock’s wealth and age are atypical for mass shooters, though most indeed are white males like him. His lack of criminal record and apparent religious or political affiliation are also baffling. ISIS claimed responsibility shortly after the shooting, saying Paddock had converted to Islam six months earlier. Authorities have said there is no evidence that is true, though other experts have warned not to completely discredit ISIS’ claim.

Police say Paddock left no note, manifesto or social media post explaining his actions, unlike many other violent criminals before a rampage. There was one handwritten note found in the hotel room, police said. It contained calculations for how to hit his targets at the festival, 32 stories down and a few hundred yards away.

Investigators would typically hope that a laptop hard drive could provide more insight into to Paddock’s interests, habits β€” motive. For now, it’s still a mystery.

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