$21 million awarded to survivors of horrific attack that came days before Baltimore CEO's 2023 murder

A Baltimore jury awarded $21 million to a man and a woman who were attacked days before tech CEO Pava LaPere was murdered in 2023 by Jason Billingsley.

April Hurley and Jonte Gilmore sued the property company, Eden's Homes LLC, and Property Pals LLC, for hiring the ex-convict as a maintenance worker in their home before the violent attacks. They will each receive more than $10 million.

The lawsuit claims the companies didn't take proper steps in their hiring process, which includes conducting a background check.

Attorney Malcolm Ruff said the companies failed "utterly to vet, to do any background research on Jason Billingsley, a terrible, terrible repeat violent sex offender."

Ruff said Billingsley used his position as a maintenance worker to lure Hurley out of her apartment, tie her up, pistol-whip her, attempt to choke her to death, and sexually assault her before setting her on fire in a house with Gilmore on Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore on September 19, 2023.

Both survived after they were pulled from a basement window by neighbors.

The next day, an arrest warrant was issued for Billingsley. 

Six days later, Pava LaPere, the CEO of tech company EcoMap, was found beaten to death at her Mount Vernon apartment building.

As news spread of the high-profile killing, police publicly identified Billingsley as a suspect. After a day-long manhunt, he was finally arrested in Bowie, Maryland. 

Hurley hopes the verdict will change how landlords operate statewide.

"I'm just thankful that me and Jonte survived that day and that we made it this far to fight for this ruling," Hurley said, fighting back tears. "No amount of money could possibly change what happened, but it definitely sends a message."

Ruff said he thinks the landlords were negligent because of the rooming home's location in West Baltimore.

"The rooming house was located in the Black Butterfly on the other side of MLK, where these folks who were making a profit from renovating houses and splitting them up into individual rooms, simply overlooked, ignored, willfully and deliberately their duty to April," Ruff explained.

Hurley's attorneys say they hope to recoup every cent of this judgment for their clients. The two companies have an opportunity to appeal. Eden's Homes LLC told WJZ it plans to appeal but will not comment before that judgment.

Billingsley sentenced for Pava LaPere's murder

In August 2024, Billingsley pleaded guilty to LaPere's murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

LaPere was found beaten and strangled on the roof of her Mount Vernon apartment building in September 2023 after friends reported her missing. Investigators connected Billingsley to the murder through surveillance.

Billingsley was charged with first-degree murder.

"Acceptable justice may have been served today, but it will never fill the void and erase the grief or replace the impact that Pava would have had given the full life that she so deserved," Frank LaPere, Pava LaPere's father, said after the conviction.

Billingsley apologized to LaPere's family in court, saying, "I hold myself accountable. I'm very remorseful. I sincerely, deeply apologize."

LaPere's father said he did not buy Billingsley's apology.

"I find it difficult to accept that statement knowing that this is not a one-time crime," Frank LaPere said. "I don't think this is a person who can understand remorse or really feels it."

Billingsley pleads guilty for brutal attacks

Days before his murder conviction for the death of Pava LaPere, Billingsley pleaded guilty to the brutal attack on Hurley and Gilmore.   

Billingsley was convicted after holding Hurley and Gilmore captive in the basement of a West Baltimore home. He was also convicted of sexually abusing Hurley, slitting her throat, dousing Gilmore and Hurley in gasoline, and lighting them both on fire.

The law firm Murphy, Falcon and Murphy said in a statement at the time, "We are relieved that Jason Billingsley pleaded guilty today and will spend the rest of his natural life in prison. Our client, April Hurley, is now one step closer to justice for the brutal attack in which she was raped, tortured, set on fire, had her throat slashed, and was left to die—a horrific assault that has forever changed her life."  

He is serving three life sentences concurrently in both cases.

Prior sex offender convictions

Billingsley is a convicted felon and registered sex offender who was released in 2022 on parole.

He pleaded guilty to sexual assault in 2015 and was sentenced to 30 years, with all but 14 suspended. He only served seven years, being released in October 2022 because he earned enough diminution credits.

"Even a cursory background check would have prevented my clients from enduring such a harrowing ordeal," an attorney representing Hurley said. "In inadequately vetting this candidate, they granted access to a violent criminal who inflicted unimaginable harm on Baltimore City residents."