Baltimore man receives 3 life sentences for killing tech CEO and setting apartment fire, injuring 2

BALTIMORE (TCN) -- A man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for fatally strangling and beating a female tech CEO last year.

The Baltimore State's Attorney's Office announced Aug. 30 that Jason Billingsley received a total of three life sentences for the first-degree murder of Pava LaPere and two counts of attempted murder in connection with an apartment fire he had set. Baltimore Police initially arrested him on Sept. 27, 2023.

According to prosecutors, in the early morning hours of Sept. 19, 2023, Billingsley knocked on April Hurley's door, posing as maintenance staff. He reportedly kicked in the door and held Hurley and her male friend at gunpoint before handcuffing and taping the two. The attorney's office said the defendant sexually assaulted Hurley and then used a knife to slash her throat. He then reportedly doused the couple and apartment with accelerant and set it ablaze. Hurley and her male friend sustained second- and third-degree burns as a result and were transported to a hospital in critical condition.

Six days later, on Sept. 25, 2023, Baltimore Police responded to a separate report of a missing person, LaPere, after co-workers last saw her in the area of the Artscape festival on the night of Sept. 22, 2023. LaPere co-founded a startup called EcoMap Technologies and was featured on Forbes’ 2023 30 Under 30 list.

LePere reportedly failed to show up to a scheduled work meeting on Sept. 25, 2023, prompting co-workers' concern. Shortly after the report, prosecutors said police found LaPere deceased on the roof of a building on West Franklin Street along with a brick. The medical examiner later determined she died by strangulation and blunt force trauma.

Investigators obtained surveillance footage from LaPere's apartment building that reportedly showed her in the lobby and "letting the defendant in after he waved to her through the glass." Billingsley spoke with LaPere, and they entered the elevator together. Shortly after, the defendant is reportedly seen on footage "scrambling for an exit and wiping his right hand on his shorts."

A judge had previously sentenced Billingsley to 30 years in prison with all but 14 years suspended for a rape attempt conviction in a separate incident, WJZ-TV reports. He was paroled in October 2022.

State's Attorney Ivan Bates said, "This defendant should have never been released into the community following a first-degree sex offense conviction to inflict immense trauma, pain, and sorrow on so many individuals in such a short amount of time."

According to prosecutors, the LaPere family was in court during sentencing and said, "It has been 342 days since our daughter and sister, Pava Marie LaPere, was murdered. Each one of those days has been extremely painful and difficult to endure. Pava’s death has deeply impacted our family, her friends, EcoMap Technologies, the Johns Hopkins University, the City of Baltimore, and the State of Maryland. It was right here, where she was making a significant impact on improving the lives, entities and communities which she so loved. Acceptable justice may be served today, but it will never fill the void, erase the grief, or replace the impact Pava would have had if given the full life that she deserved."

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