Baltimore Mayor Berates Justice System for Early Release of ‘Extremely Violent’ Felon Who Murdered Idealistic Young Chief Executive

Baltimore’s acting police commissioner, Richard Worley, said Thursday that the “extremely violent” felon arrested Wednesday night for the murder of tech executive, Pava LaPere, had been the subject of an intense six-day manhunt prior to the discovery Monday of LaPere’s beaten and partially clothed body.Jason Billingsley was taken into custody Wednesday night at Bowie, Maryland, “without incident,” Mr. Worley confirmed in a press conference Thursday morning. He will be charged with first degree murder in the LaPere case.Mr. Worley said law enforcement had been tracking Billingsley’s movements for days before LaPere’s murder because Billingsley was the lead suspect in a separate assault, rape, and attempted murder at Baltimore on September 19. When pressed why the Baltimore Police Department had not sent out an alert to warn citizens of the danger posed by Billingsley prior to LaPere’s murder, Mr. Worley said police didn’t think Billingsley was committing “random acts.”“I don’t think we made a mistake in this case,” Mr. Worley said.Mr. Worley called the September 19 crime “targeted,” as Billingsley knew the building and was familiar with the victims. Mr. Worley said he couldn’t confirm any connection between LaPere and Billingsley.“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Mr. Worley said. “If I had known that he was going to go and kill someone we would have put the flier out, but we had no indication that he was committing random acts.”LaPere was murdered Friday night, police said, though they would not provide any details of the crime at the request of LaPere’s family. They would only say there was no forced entry into LaPere’s building. Her body was discovered Monday morning, shortly after a separate missing persons report was filed for her.LaPere, 26, was the chief executive of the artificial intelligence business platform, EcoMap Technologies. She was recently listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for the category of social impact.LaPere founded EcoMap while a senior at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore. She was a champion of Baltimore and chose to stay after graduation, saying she was “passionately committed to making an impact on the city.”Billingsley had a long rap sheet and was released in October 2022 on good time credits after serving only nine years on a 30-year sentence for a first-degree forcible sex offense. In that crime, Billingsley threatened to shoot a woman, forced her to perform oral sex, strangled her, and then stole money from her wallet, according to the Baltimore Banner.Billingsley also pled guilty to first-degree assault in 2009 and second-degree assault in 2011.Jason Billingsley/Balitmore Police Department“He should not have been on the streets in the first place,” Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon Scott, said at the press conference, defending the police. “What the residents of Baltimore should be doing is questioning why he was let out and how that happened, and that’s not on the police department.”The City of Baltimore’s state’s attorney, Ivan Bates, echoed that sentiment. He said he wasn’t sure why Billingsley got a lower sentence in 2015 than guidelines suggested, saying, “it was a different administration.” The prior state’s attorney in office when Billingsley got sentenced was Marilyn Mosby.“It was more or less a systematic failure of what happened,” Mr. Bates said.Mr. Bates also said he thought prisoners convicted of first-degree sex crimes should not be allowed to get out of jail early with good time credits. He acknowledged, though, that changing laws is the legislature’s job.Mayor Scott was more blunt. “Rapists shouldn’t be let out early. Period,” he said.Mr. Bates said his office will be seeking a sentence for Billingsley of life without the possibility of parole. “Our hope and goal is if this individual is found guilty in a court of law that this individual will never get out to see the light of day again and to ever hurt the citizens of our fine city ever again,” Mr. Bates said.When asked by a reporter why this case of a white woman was getting so much attention when the city has already seen more than 200 murders this year, the mayor defended the police, saying reporters just don’t ask as many questions about other victims.“Every single life in Baltimore matters,” Mr. Scott said.

Baltimore Mayor Berates Justice System for Early Release of ‘Extremely Violent’ Felon Who Murdered Idealistic Young Chief Executive

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