New details revealed in murder of Baltimore tech CEO Pava LaPere

Karina Mandell, a friend and colleague of LaPere, told The Independent on Wednesday that the tragic loss will have ripple effects in the city that LaPere breathed and loved and worked every day to improve.

“She was a force to be reckoned with. She wanted things to be better, it wasn’t just complaining, she wanted to improve things and challenge the status quo and was unapologetic about it because it was for the right reasons,” Ms Mandell, an entrepreneur herself, said about her friend.

LaPere, who is originally from Arizona, stayed in Baltimore after graduating from Johns Hopkins University in 2019 with a degree in arts and sociology. She launched her startup, a custom platform builder for companies, from her dorm and went on to build it from the ground up.

Earlier this year, LaPere was featured on Forbes’ “30 under 30” list for her social impact on the industry. EcoMaps Technologies, which currently has a team of nearly 30 employees, has raised $5m and boasts big-name clients including Meta and the T.Rowe Price Foundation.

“She had this knack for finding what was messing with us and wanting opportunities for everyone,” Ms Mandell added. “No matter where you came from, no matter what college you went to, to make sure that you knew the opportunities that were available to you and to democratise that access for everybody.”

He pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in 2009 and was given two years of supervised probation. He violated the terms of his parole and was convicted of second-degree assault in 2011, court records show.

Billingsley served two years over the 2011 conviction and just months after being released in 2013, he was arrested again on attempted rape charges

Billingsley was released in October 2022, something that “should have never have happened,” Mayor Brandon Scott said at the press conference.

“There is no way in hell that he should have been out on the street,” Mr Scott said. “When the police go out and do their job, as they did in this case ... and the state’s attorney goes out and does their work, gets the conviction, the conviction should be the conviction.”

The sentence, which was struck under the previous administration, was below guideline standards, Baltimore District Attorney Ivan Bates said on 28 September. Mr Bates said that Billingsley was set to serve 14 years but then went on to earn diminution credits, per Maryland sentencing guidelines.

“We give almost 30 days of good time for almost every month that you’re in custody and you’re not messing up,” Mr Bates said. “Therefore he didn’t need parole, he did a little less than the third of his sentence and that’s what the law allows. So when you look at it, it’s more of a systemic failure.”

Baltimore police have revealed that the body of slain tech CEO Pava LaPere went undiscovered for three days after she was murdered.

Jason Dean Billingsley, 32, was taken into custody without incident at around 11pm last night at a train station in Bowie, Prince County. US Marshalls, Baltimore police, Maryland State Police, ATF and DC Metro Police participated in the arrest, authorities said at a press conference on Thursday.

“But my wish is that we can give the family and community a sense of closure. We’re going to put this violent repeat criminal offender in jail, where he belongs,” Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said. “Let’s work together and make sure he stays there.”

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New details have been revealed about the murder of Baltimore tech CEO Pava LaPere following the arrest of the “extremely dangerous” suspect Jason Billingsley.

Court documents reveal that LaPere, 26, died of strangulation and blunt force trauma before her body was left on the roof of her apartment building on West Franklin Street in Baltimore for three days.

LaPere’s body was found on Monday.

LaPere, originally from Arizona, stayed in Baltimore after graduating from Johns Hopkins University in 2019 with a degree in arts and sociology. She launched her startup, a custom platform builder for companies, from her dorm and went on to build it from the ground up.

“She had this knack for finding what was messing with us and wanting opportunities for everyone,” Ms Mandell added. “No matter where you came from, no matter what college you went to, to make sure that you knew the opportunities that were available to you and to democratize that access for everybody.”

Mayor Scott described LaPere as a talented and motivated Baltimorian who always went out of her way to help others.

“It’s really difficult to express the sorrow that I have standing before you today,” he said. “Pava was ... someone I had the opportunity to get to know over the last few years and she would help anyone that she could. And to have that life cut short by someone who has no care about anything but causing harm to people is something that should sit deep in the stomach of all Baltimorians tonight.”

Ms Mandell echoed those feelings, describing LaPere as the “Silicon Valley type-of-person” who would get up at 5.30am every morning to think about ways to help improve her city.

“Her apartment was literally above her office,” Ms Mandell told The Independent. “She wanted to help other students, other entrepreneurs, to keep funding, to prototype ideas because, you know, who knows who will build the next pacemaker, the next rocket or the next Uber.”

She added: “She was doing good things for a lot of good people and hiring within the city and growing her team. We need to move that commitment to honour her legacy.”

Sources told CNN that surveillance footage captured the suspect following LaPere from a distance on the street outside her building on Friday night.

After she entered the building, video from the lobby showed her noticing him appearing to fumble at the door – as though he had lost his keys.

She then let him inside and the two entered the elevator at the same time, CNN reported.

LaPere’s body was found on Monday on the rooftop of the building.

Baltimore police have pushed against criticism over their handling of the investigation into tech CEO Pava LaPere’s murder — after revealing that her alleged killer had already been identified as a suspect in another attack several days before her body was found.

US Marshalls and local and state police arrested Jason Dean Billingsley, 32, without incident on Wednesday night for the murder of LaPere. Authorities said during a press conference on Thursday that Billingsley was surrounded by a SWAT team at a train station in Bowie, Prince George’s County.

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