A Baltimore man on Friday was sentenced to three life sentences after pleading guilty to the 2023 murder of tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere, officials said.
Jason Billingsley had been released from prison early after a sexual assault conviction before he killed LaPere, 26, raped another woman and tried to kill that victim and her male friend. The crimes prompted changes in state law.
Billingsley, 33, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to three life sentences, two of which are to be served back-to-back, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney said.
“Let me be clear: Mr. Billingsley should never see the light of day again,” State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates said at a news conference.
Billingsley was a maintenance worker and identified himself as such on Sept. 19 when he knocked on April Hurley’s apartment door. He then kicked it in and held her and her friend at gunpoint, officials said.
Billingsley restrained both, sexually assaulted Hurley and cut her throat. Officials said he poured an accelerant on them and the apartment and set it on fire.
A week later, on Sept. 25, LaPere was reported missing by co-workers. Her body was later found on the roof of her downtown Baltimore apartment building. Surveillance video showed her letting Billingsley into the lobby and the two of them on an elevator, officials have said.
Billingsley is later seen wiping his hands on his shorts and leaving the building alone, according to prosecutors.
Hurley and LaPere’s family joined the prosecutor at a Friday news conference announcing the guilty pleas and life sentences.
“If it weren’t for God and my will to be alive, I wouldn’t be standing here today,” Hurley said. She said she now lives in constant fear and finds it difficult to be in public.
“Every day, I have flashbacks and triggers that cause terrible anxiety, pain and stress,” she said. “I will never be the same person.”
The LaPere family said that each of the 342 days since LaPere’s murder has been painful and difficult.
“Acceptable justice may have been served today. But it will never fill the void, or erase the grief, or replace the impact that Pava would have had, given the full life that she so deserved,” her father, Frank LaPere, said. “The full life that every innocent person deserves.”
LaPere was CEO and co-founder of EcoMap Technologies, which provides a platform that takes data and orders it to provide insights and opportunities for growth.
She had been named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30,” citing social impact.
Billingsley had been released early from prison after he was sentenced in 2015 for first-degree sexual assault committed in 2013 — the sentence was 30 years, with all but 14 years suspended.
In 2022, he was released five years early, through “diminution credits,” which allow someone to leave prison early for such things as good behavior. The start date of the sentence was 2013 when he was arrested and jailed, records show.
Maryland this year passed the Pava Marie LaPere Act, which eliminates diminution credits for people convicted of first-degree sex offenses.
LaPere’s family said there should be similar laws that prevent first-degree sex offenders from getting diminution credits in other states as well.
Billingsley was sentenced to serve two life sentences, one after the other. The two life sentences for the attempted murder are to be served concurrently, and the life sentence for the first-degree murder count is to be served consecutively. Billingsley also has parole violations, Bates said.