An examination of Stephen Paddocks suitcases and bags: what the LVMPD and FBI's investigation missed, and why Paddock was not working alone

According to the official narrative set by the LVMPD and FBI Stephen Paddock acted as a lone-wolf shooter, without motive, firing upon the crowds of the Route 91 Harvest Festival from his rooms on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay. Despite their insistence that Paddock acted as a lone-wolf, what if we could prove that Paddock had worked with accomplices, using their own evidence, in the days leading up to the shooting?

The final FIT Report

Lets start with the "Criminal Investigative Report" which I will refer to as "FIT report" from the LVMPD (link: https://www.lvmpd.com/about/news-events/information-and-resources-regarding-the-1-october-shooting) which is the final report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Force Investigation Team. The images I have attached to this post can primarily be found on pages 84-92 (highlights my own), from these images we can see a total of 10 suitcases, 1 duffel-bag, and 1 small black bag. Besides the images, these bags are sparsely mentioned in the FIT report.

• Image 1 page 84
• Image 2 page 85
• Image 3 page 90
• Image 4 page 85
• Image 5 page 86
• Image 6 page 87
• Image 7 page 88
• Image 8 page 88
• Image 9 page 90
• Image 10 page 92
• Image 11 page 92

Suitcases visible in the Final FIT Report

To help keep track of the images above, I have compiled information about the suitcases pictured into the table below:

10 suitcases, 1 duffel bag, 1 bag

FBI Lab Report 01 - Item Recovery

Now that we have a visual understanding of the suitcases from the LVMPD, lets compare that to the evidence recovered by the FBI. (link: https://vault.fbi.gov/stephen-paddock/stephen-paddock-part-01.pdf/view pages 279-313). Creating a table we can see 11 suitcases, 1 duffel bag, and 1 small bag were recovered which shows 1 extra suitcase not visible from the FIT images.

Bags and Contents from FBI Laboratory Case Record Report (Lab #: 2017-02788)

As shown in the table above, the FBI adds an item location for each piece of evidence. To get a better understanding of the rooms, I have created the table below grouping the bags by location.

Specific location breakdown:

Matching the FIT Report Images to FBI Recovered Evidence

Given we can see 10 suitcases from the FIT report images and 11 from the FBI recovered, matching them to the FBI recovered suitcases should help determine where the last suitcase is located.

Referencing the location breakdown above, we can use the descriptions and contextual clues to match the FBI evidence recovered items to what is shown in the FIT images.

A1

in location A1 we have 1 duffel bag and 3 suitcases, since there is only one duffel visible in the FIT images we know A1 is near the entertainment center. However, in the images we only see 2 suitcases, one of which is missing.

Visiting page 92 of the FIT report the LVMPD describe a suitcase in front of the entertainment center on the floor containing rifle cases.

"An open black suitcase, containing soft rifle cases, was on the floor north of the entertainment center cabinet. There were three casings on the floor west of the side table and at the east end of the east-west hallway."

This suitcase does not fully appear in any LVMPD or FBI photographs, but the "lid"/top of the suitcase can be seen below. Why this suitcase is not imaged is unknown, but leaves room for speculation.

A2

In A2 there is only one suitcase containing a towel. As far as I am aware, this item was not directly photographed or included in any photographs from the LVMPD or FBI. Based on proximity, I believe this item located around the bar/kitchenette area.

A4

In A4 we have two suitcases recovered from the floor. These are easy to identify as these are the only suitcases described as containing magazines.

C1

C1, referred to as the "Chaise Lounge", has the only bag which I presume is the black bag on the floor here behind the shopping bags and a suitcase.

C2

C2 is interesting as the one suitcase in this location is not imaged. According to the evidence recovered it contains nothing but a toolbox with a screwdriver, drill bits, gorilla glue, construction adhesive, and a marker. Why it is not imaged is up to speculation but from looking at the images closely and based on approximation and description I believe the item highlighted below is the suitcase.

C3

Lastly, C3 contains 3 items, 2 of which are missing from images. The one visible suitcase in C3 is in close proximity to Paddocks body and the only item described by the FBI as "from floor/near window".

One could argue these are the suitcases next to the bed, but the descriptions and contents of the suitcases are inconsistent between the FBI data and the description from the FIT report. From page 85 of the FIT report:

The bed was along the south wall with nightstands on either side. The following items were located on the bed: a Dell laptop computer, a passport in the name of "Stephen Paddock," four Home Depot gift cards, a checkbook, and a cash-out voucher for the Palms Casino dated 8/28/17. There were three suitcases west of the bed: two of which were empty and one had clothing inside. A television was on a dresser north of the bed. There were drill bits and tools on top of the dresser. Eight empty rifle magazines were on the floor below the west end of the dresser. An open suitcase with a tool box inside was east of the dresser. The closet was located along the wall east of the bed with a single shirt and a white bathrobe hanging inside.

And, from the FBI Evidence recovered table:

We can see that the FBI claims theres no cloting in the suitcases while the LVMPD says otherwise.

Overall, we can determine that the item in A2 is the "extra" item from the FBI report, with a definite total of 11 suitcases, one duffel-bag, and one small bag recovered from the crime scene.

Now that we have a consensus between the LVMPD and the FBI on the state of the suitcases found at the crime scene, lets compare that against surveillance camera footage from the Mandalay Bay.

Mandalay Bay Surveillance Footage

For the surveillance footage from the Mandalay Bay I will reference the New York Times visual Investigation (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZRgVX8SYX4) which does a great job of compiling the footage and counting the suitcases. One thing they miss, however, is not subtracting the suitcases Paddock leaves with.

Watching their video you can put together a timeline of when Paddock brought in and left the Mandalay Bay with suitcases/bags:

• Sep 25th, +5 suitcases, later leaves with -2
• 26th +7
• 27th, -2
• 28th, +3
• 30th, +4
• 10/1, +2 suitcases for a total of 17 suitcases

date	time	Closest LIR Time	Incoming suitcases	Total count suitcases	timestamp	image embed
09/25/2017	15:38		No suitcases, just a laptop bag	0	1:04
09/25/2017	16:55	32135 17:02	5 suitcases	5	1:18
09/25/2017	21:40	32135 21:33	leaves with 2 suitcases and a laptop bag	3	1:35
09/26/2017	unknown	32135 22:52-23:04	7 suitcases, laptop bag	10	2:43
09/27/2017	19:58	32135 19:54-19:56	leaves with 2 suitcases	8	3:16
09/28/2017	unknown	32135 21:53-21:55	3 suitcases and a white container	11	3:40
09/30/2017	approx 06:00	32134/32135 06:03-06:13	2 suitcases	13	4:32
09/30/2017	after 15:00	32134/32135 15:21-15:25	2 suitcases	15	4:45
10/01/2017	12:29	32135 12:30-12:32	2 suitcases	17	5:38

17 suitcases.

17 suitcases.

17 suitcases

If Paddock has 17 suitcases from the Mandalay Bay surveillance footage, but the LVMPD and FBI only find 11 at the crime scene, that means 6 suitcases have gone missing in the days leading up to the shooting.

The Missing Suitcases

Based on the data provided, there are 6 missing suitcases from what Paddock is shown taking into the hotel rooms. To get an idea of when these suitcases could have left the hotel we will once again turn to the final FIT report.

At the end of the final FIT report (pages 128-140) the LVMPD includes what they call the "Lock Interrogation Report" (LIR). The LIR shows logs from the doors of the hotel rooms such as "opened from inside", "guest card accepted", etc. We should be able to look at the combined LIR data to determine what times are most plausible for Paddock to have left the hotel with suitcases, or perhaps have handed them off.

Remove entry/exit times seen in surveillance footage from LIR

Using the timestamps from the Mandalay Bay surveillance footage we can remove times from the LIR that we can infer are Paddock entering/leaving with luggage. Once removed we are left with remaining times when suitcases may have left the hotel or been handed to potential guests.

Sequences removed:

• 09/25/2017
  • Morning
    • 
  • Evening
    • 
• 09/26/2017
  • 
• 09/27/2017
  • 
• 09/28/2017
  • 
• 09/30/2017
  • 
  • This is a very unusual sequence and involves rooms 134 and 135. That is a tale for another time, for now, given its proximity to the surveillance footage, we will include it in the removed sequnces
• 10/01/2017
  • 

Remaining Times that Show Unusual Activity

While its completely speculation at this point, looking at the remaining LIR data (which is a lot) we can try to find times that stand out as unusual or perhaps show coordinated activity indicating that Paddock was not alone as we had been told. One time period that stands out to me for suspicious activity is the night of the 28th, where according to the FIT Paddock is described as gambling "continuously" from 10PM until ~5AM the next day, despite the LIR showing otherwise.

At 2308 hours, Paddock began gabling at Mandalay Bay and continued gambling the next morning . . . At 0713 hours, Paddock stopped gambling, which he was doing continuously since the previous night. Pages 29 & 30, final FIT Report

Note: Table above is my own created for easier reading from the LIR data shown in the FIT report

Additional candidates for these handoffs could be ~3:12-3:15PM and ~9:38PM on September 29th. Unfortunately, the data is only accurate down to 1 minute,but both these times seem to show unusual internal activity from both doors, which is odd if Paddock was alone.

While these times are unusual, these are just a small slice of the data presented in the LIR and just a few of the many unusual times that seem to indicate Paddock had guests. The LIR by itself would take an article much longer than this but should be reviewed as it directly contradicts much of the LVMPD's reporting.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when compiling the evidence from the LVMPD, Mandalay Bay surveillance cameras, and the FBI, we can create a timeline that is inconsistent with their conclusions, showing that evidence was missing from the crime scene which should have been present.

If the suitcases were simply removed by Paddock we have to wonder why MGM wouldnt release that innocuous footage. To me, this points to the fact that Paddock was not working alone. Who he was working with? Thats the next question and a story for another day.