Jason Billingsley, 33, pleaded guilty to murdering tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere Friday morning in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
It comes days after he pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of April Hurley, a West Baltimore woman, and her partner in a separate home invasion case. Friday’s guilty plea was expected as part of a plea agreement for the two cases.
The crimes committed by Billingsley have already inspired legislative change in Maryland.
Billingsley will serve multiple life sentences for the murder of Pava LaPere and the attempted murder of April Hurley and her house guest, Jonte Gilmore.
When Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Robert K. Taylor sentenced Billingsley on Friday, he did grant him the possibility of parole. Due to the multiple life sentences, it would likely be many decades before Billingsley is eligible for parole.
“I try not to judge people by their worst acts,” Taylor said. “But no one in any community, in my opinion, will be safe as long as you are free.”
In a brief statement before the court, Billingsley spoke and said he holds himself “fully accountable.”
“I’m very remorseful. I sincerely deeply apologize,” he said.
Billingsley killed LaPere on the rooftop of her Mount Vernon apartment building in September 2023. Her head and neck showed signs of blunt force trauma; police identified a brick on the roof with DNA evidence that matched LaPere, according to evidence shared by state prosecutors on Friday.
LaPere founded EcoMap Technologies when she was still a student at The Johns Hopkins University.
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates lauded the case as justice served.
“Let me be clear, Mr. Billingsley should never see the light of day again, not once, but twice. He's already violated parole, and now he has three first degree life sentences that he will be serving,” the city’s top prosecutor said during a press conference held after the hearing.
Hurley, 25, in the same press conference, recounted her experience, a “heinous” attack that she says has left her in constant fear and anxiety.
WYPR does not normally name victims of assault, however, Hurley went public with her story earlier this spring.
On September 19th, 2023, Billingsley broke into Hurley’s West Baltimore home, raped her, and attempted to kill her by slitting her throat. He then set Hurley and her friend on fire.
“But I'm alive and I'm thankful that justice is being served. Every day, my daughter tells me that she loves me and that I'm the best mommy ever, and I cry at the thought that Jason Billingsley tried to take me from her,” she said, choking back her own tears.
Hurley had to play dead to survive the attack. An angry red scar around her throat is still visible. She says her life is now marked by fear and anxiety.
The Baltimore City police did not initially report the attack as an attempted murder and rape; instead they called it an arson and did not put out a citywide search.
Days later Billingsley murdered LaPere, a fact that adds to Hurley’s immense pain.
“When I learned about the passing of Pava, the murder of Pava, I was extremely upset and angry that he did this to someone other than myself.”
While the ordeal has caused lasting trauma, she said giving a victim impact statement to the court was important because “other victims are not able to speak on what happened to them.”
Pava’s family remembered her in the court through impact statements.
Both her parents described a relentlessly hard worker, a tech entrepreneur, a woman committed to social justice and community with so much left to give.
“Acceptable justice may have been served today, but it will never fill the void, erase the grief, or replace the impact that Pava would have had given the full life that she so deserved, a full life that every innocent person deserves,” said her father, Frank LaPere, during the press conference held at the state’s attorney’s office.
The attacks on Hurley and LaPere came less than a year after Billingsley was released early from prison where he was serving time for a 2015 rape conviction. He was released early on diminution, known to most people as automatic good time behavior credits.
Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, signed The Pava LaPere Act into law earlier this spring, which passed unanimously through the Maryland General Assembly. It prohibits automatic good time credits for people with first degree sex offense convictions.
Criminal justice advocates worry it could have unintended consequences, they say automatic early release for good behavior makes prisons safer for other inmates and correctional officers.
But Pava’s mother, Caroline LaPere, sees it as a protective measure for other would-be victims like her daughter.
“Diminution credits are good in certain respects, horrific in others. Unfortunately, we represent the horrific that we need to eradicate as best as we can, and we'll make ourselves available to do that,” she said.
The LaPere family plans to advocate for diminution reform at the national level.
Hurley is working with attorneys Malcolm Ruff and William “Billy” Murphy Jr. to sue Eden's Homes, the property management company, and Property Pals, the company that owned the home, for damages and neglect in hiring Billingsley as a maintenance worker.
