A suspect has been arrested in the slaying of 26-year-old tech CEO Pava LaPere, who was found dead at her apartment building in downtown Baltimore earlier this week.
Authorities confirmed they arrested Jason Billingsley early Thursday morning, bringing an end to the days-long manhunt sparked by LaPere’s death. Deputy U.S. Marshal Albert Maresca Jr. told WBAL-TV the 32-year-old suspect was apprehended at a train station in Bowie, Maryland, adding that police would provide additional details during a press briefing at 11 a.m.
Billingsley had been wanted on a first-degree murder warrant in the killing of LaPere, the CEO and co-founder of the software startup EcoMap Technologies. Her body was found hours after she was reported missing on Monday, as authorities performed a welfare check at her apartment building on the 300 block of West Franklin Street in the Bromo Arts District. She was pronounced dead by medics not long after authorities arrived on the scene around 11:30 a.m.
So far, no cause of death has been provided, but police have said LaPere’s body had apparent “signs of blunt-force trauma.”
The arrest comes less than 48 hours after authorities identified Billingsley as a suspect in the slaying — and its far from his first entanglement with law enforcement.
According to court records cited by NBC News, Billingsley was sentenced in 2015 to 30 years in prison, with 16 years suspended, after he pleaded guilty to a first-degree sex offense. He was released from prison in October. Billingsley also previously pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in 2009 and second-degree assault in 2011.
Police said he’d also been wanted in connection with an unrelated attempted murder and rape earlier this month.
Billingsley is a “repeat violent offender,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates said at a news conference amid the manhunt
Officials have said they have no reason to believe LaPere knew Billingsley.
LaPere was remembered at a vigil on Wednesday night as a beloved member of the Baltimore community, who was dedicated to using entrepreneurship to spark meaningful social change. Her work also landed her spot on Forbes’ “30 under 30 List” this year in the social impact category.
“She saw things that no one else saw,” said Sherrod Davis, a Baltimore native and co-founder of EcoMap. “She saw a new Baltimore, not one that was riddled with crime and destitution, but one that was a symbol for prosperity and innovation — one that took people from every community and connected them to what they needed when they needed it.”
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