BALTIMORE (AP) — A man was arrested in the killing of a Baltimore tech entrepreneur who had built a successful startup that earned her national recognition, police said early Thursday.
Police had been searching for Jason Billingsley, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Pava LaPere, since last week as a suspect in a separate rape and arson, acting Baltimore police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference Thursday.
LaPere’s family thanked city police and their law enforcement partners Thursday morning for their “tireless efforts” throughout the investigation and apprehension of the suspect.
“We’re relieved to know he can no longer hurt other innocent victims,” the family said in a statement. “While this doesn’t change that Baltimore lost one of its most passionate, influential fans, our efforts remain focused on remembering and celebrating Pava Marie — her life, successes, and legacy.”
Police found LaPere dead with signs of blunt force trauma in her apartment complex after she was reported missing late Monday morning. The Johns Hopkins University graduate founded the tech startup EcoMap Technologies while she was still a college student.
Billingsley, 32, was paroled last October in a sexual assault case. According to an arrest warrant application, the victim told police that he displayed a knife and strangled her during the attack. Court records show he pleaded guilty to first-degree sex assault in 2015 and was sentenced to 30 years with all but 14 years suspended. He was also conviction of second-degree assault in 2011 and first-degree assault in 2009, according to court records.
Police said Billingsley is also suspected in a Sept. 19 rape, attempted murder and arson in Baltimore. Worley said that a warrant for Billingsley was issued within hours of that crime and officers had been actively searching for him since then, including through his cellphone and social media use, interviewing witnesses and surveilling his known addresses, Worley said.
“When we had press conference about LaPere’s death, we were within about 88 meters of capturing the suspect, but he was able to elude capture,” Worley said.
Billingsley knew the victims in the Sept. 19 incident, which was not a random act, but the department didn’t alert the public about Billingsley at that time because they did not believe he was committing random acts, Worley said.
He said police have no reason to believe LaPere knew Billingsley, though he worked in the building where she lived and had access to the building.
“I hope this sends a message to everybody else who likes to commit these kinds of cowardly, horrendous acts to know that we will not tolerate it and we will pull you off the streets of Baltimore,” Mayor Brandon Scott said.
The public defender’s office, which represented Billingsley in the past, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it was too early for them to comment on this case. The office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Billingsley’s behalf Thursday morning.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said he plans to seek a life without parole sentence for Billingsley on the new charges.
LaPere was remembered at a vigil Wednesday night as someone who remained focused on building community and using entrepreneurship to create meaningful social change even as her national profile rose.
While building EcoMap, LaPere remained focused on the philanthropic efforts that motivated her from the beginning.
“She knew what she wanted to accomplish and there was nothing that would get in her way,” her father, Frank LaPere, told a crowd of more than 100 people who gathered for the vigil Wednesday night.
As a college student, LaPere was heavily involved in efforts to expand opportunities for young entrepreneurs. She launched EcoMap from her dorm room at Johns Hopkins.
“She saw things that no one else saw,” said Sherrod Davis, a Baltimore native and co-founder of EcoMap. “She saw a new Baltimore, not one that was riddled with crime and destitution, but one that was a symbol for prosperity and innovation — one that took people from every community and connected them to what they needed when they needed it.”
Loved ones said the same philosophy was at the heart of LaPere’s company, which uses technology to curate data and make information more accessible across social ecosystems. Their clients include Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and The Aspen Institute.
LaPere believed in conscious capitalism, an ethical approach to business that’s become more popular in recent years, and she prioritized diverse hiring practices; half her employees were women and half were people of color.
Earlier this year, she was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list for social impact. She recently posted on Instagram about growing EcoMap to a staff of 30 people and opening its offices in downtown Baltimore.
“She was so the antithesis of what happened to her,” her close friend Karina Mandell told AP in an interview Wednesday. “That polarity, that’s what makes it so shocking.”
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