Pava LaPere's family seeks accountability 3 years after Baltimore tech CEO's death

It's been three years since the death of Pava LaPere.

The Baltimore tech CEO's body was found on the roof of her apartment building days after she was killed.

Jason Billingsley was arrested days later. He pleaded guilty to LaPere's death in 2024. 

But LaPere's family says questions remain about her death and whether others should be held accountable.

Now, her father is hoping someone else will take up the fight for answers after an important legal deadline passed, meaning the family can no longer pursue certain claims in the case.

Outstanding concerns

When Frank LaPere thinks about his daughter's death, he thinks about how it was preventable.

"I said once before that a father should kiss his daughter good night, not cry himself to sleep through preventable loss," he said.

He doesn't want another family to go through what his did, so that's why the LaPere family did its own investigation in the last nine months.

After digging through information obtained through dozens of public records requests, Frank LaPere said there are two outstanding concerns they have with his daughter's death.

The first concern is what he describes as relaxed parole supervision for Billingsley, despite having a violent criminal history. Frank LaPere said Billingsley didn't start getting his sex offender treatment until six months after his release in 2022.

The second is how Baltimore Police failed to immediately warn the public about Billingsley, despite being charged in a violent attack and arson incident in Edmondson Village just days before Pava LaPere's murder. 

"Had they done that, Jason Billingsley probably would've fled. He would've not run into my daughter walking back to her apartment after ArtScape. He would not have been around Downtown Baltimore, but he was," Frank LaPere said.

To look into the concerns further and to possibly find resolutions to them, Frank LaPere said his family sought a tolling agreement to extend the statute of limitations -- which expired Tuesday.

However, it didn't work. Frank LaPere said he tried getting ahold of Baltimore Police, the city's law department, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), and the Office of the Attorney General to get this done.

"We were stonewalled and pretty much blown off," he said.

Baltimore Police, DPSCS and the Office of the Attorney General all declined to comment on this.

Legislative action

Frank LaPere is hoping state lawmakers look into the family's remaining concerns.

He said it can be done, especially after two bills in Pava LaPere's honor were signed into law in 2024. One of which prevents those convicted of most violent sex crimes from earning diminution credits for early release. 

Those credits are how Billingsley was able to released early from his 2015 sexual assault sentence.

Aside from accountability, Frank LaPere wants his daughter's legacy to continue to grow.

"We believe that Pava was robbed," he said. "We believe that the family was robbed of a happy and healthy life with our daughter, with her children who will never be born now. Her brother lost his only sibling."

Billingsley is serving life in prison after pleading guilty to Pava LaPere's murder and the Edmondson Village attack in August 2024. 

A Baltimore jury awarded $21 million to the man and woman involved in the Edmondson Village attack in November 2025.