Who is Jason Billingsley? Convicted felon suspected in death of Baltimore tech CEO Pava LaPere
BALTIMORE -- Police have a repeat, violent offender on their radar after the murder of a 26-year-old tech company CEO.
On Tuesday, the department named Jason Billingsley, 32, as the prime suspect in the killing of Pava LaPere.
The victim was discovered with signs of blunt force trauma at an apartment complex near Mount Vernon on West Franklin Street Monday morning.
Adult court records reveal that at 18-years-old Billingsley pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in 2009.
He was ultimately given two years of supervised probation but violated the terms and was convicted in a second-degree assault case in 2011, where he served a two-year prison sentence.
After being released, mere months later in 2013, Billingsley was convicted of a rape attempt.
A judge handed down a 30-year sentence with an expected 2043 release date, however, 16 years of the sentence was suspended, and he was given five years of supervised probation.
Billingsley was paroled in October 2022, according to State's Attorney Ivan Bates.
In a press conference, Mayor Brandon Scott expressed frustration with the chain of events that happened in this case and others within the justice system.
"The state's attorney goes out and does their work, gets the conviction. The conviction should be the conviction," said Scott. "We have to make sure that folks are held accountable in every single way because we are tired of talking about the same people, committing the same kind of crimes over and over and over again."
Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Billingsley is also a suspect in at least one other case.
He has been convicted of at least two felonies and now faces a third with a warrant out for first-degree murder.
