Jason Dean Billingsley Jr. (insert) murdered tech CEO Pava LaPere, police said. Frank LaPere, Nico LaPere and Caroline Frank, the family of Pava LaPere, founder of tech startup EcoMap Technologies, speak during a vigil on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, in Baltimore. (Mug shot: Baltimore Police Department; image of the vigil: AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
In a press conference on Thursday, police said Jason Dean Billingsley Jr., 32, the man who allegedly killed tech CEO Pava LaPere, was arrested late Wednesday night in the city of Bowie, Maryland, after authorities got information that the suspect was in the area.
Baltimore Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said the defendant was cooperative — if only in the presence of the Prince George's County SWAT team — though the lawman declined to elaborate on what the suspect may have told investigators.
Officers previously said that Billingsley was the person who fatally attacked LaPere in her apartment building, leaving her with blunt force trauma. Officers found her body Monday morning.
"Preliminary investigation revealed that a missing person's call had been dispatched a short time prior," they said.
Police said Thursday that the murder apparently happened Friday, but it was only discovered Monday when LaPere was reported missing. Monday was the same day that Billingsley failed to routinely check in as a registered sex offender under a 2015 guilty plea for sex offense in the first degree, they said.
Authorities declined to release more information on LaPere's death, saying that her family asked them to withhold details.
Officers revealed Wednesday that Billingsley was also wanted in a separate horrifying crime from Sept. 19.
Billingsley banged on the door of a rooming home the night of Sept. 19 on the 800 block of Edmondson Avenue, claimed to be a maintenance worker, kicked down the front door when no one answered, pointed a gun at a man and a woman, bound them with handcuffs and duct tape, raped the woman, cut her neck, doused both victims with a liquid and set them on fire, a source with knowledge of the investigation told The Baltimore Banner.
The man and woman, both 26, survived with burns and other injuries, Baltimore NBC affiliate WBAL reported at the time. A 5-year-old child in the home was taken to the hospital due to smoke inhalation.
Billingsley had been on the Maryland sex offender registry for a 2015 guilty plea for sex offense in the first degree.
Circuit Judge Emanuel Brown did not agree with the deal for 30 years in prison with all but 14 years suspended, but he accepted it in order to spare the traumatized survivor from having to testify at a trial, according to The Baltimore Banner.
"This case deserves a lot more than the 14," he said.
Billingsley got out of prison on Oct. 5, 2022, reportedly because of good-time credit.
Authorities, in particular Worley and Mayor Brandon M. Scott, defended against criticism that authorities failed to immediately warn the public about Billingsley's suspected involvement in the Sept. 19 arson and rape, even after getting the warrant on Sept. 20.
Worley told reporters that the Sept. 19 incident was targeted — "he was there for a reason" — and not apparently random like the LaPere murder. Authorities had been earnestly working to catch Billingsley this entire time, and had eluded their attempts, Worley said. The commissioner maintained that he did not think officers made a mistake. Worley told reporters that authorities initially did not tell the public on Tuesday about Billingsley's possible link between the Sept. 19 incident and the LaPere murder because they had to establish protection for the arson survivors.
Note: This story has been updated with information from Thursday's press conference.