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Police in Baltimore say they are searching for a repeat violent offender who should not have been free after the death of a 26-year-old tech CEO found dead at an apartment Monday.
Pava LaPere, the CEO and founder of EcoMap Technologies whose accomplishments earned her a spot among the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list, was found dead about 11:30 a.m Monday at an apartment with apparent signs of “blunt-force trauma,” police said.
Police on Tuesday said they had issued an arrest warrant for Jason Billingsley on first-degree murder and additional charges.
Officials said the 32-year-old Baltimore man should be considered armed and dangerous.
“This individual will kill, and he will rape,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley warned Tuesday afternoon at a news conference. “He will do anything he can to cause harm.”
In 2015, Billingsley was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 16 years suspended, after pleading guilty to a first-degree sex offense, court records show.
The state’s sex offender registry shows that he was released from prison in October. The registry classified him in “tier 3,” which includes the most serious charges and requires offenders to register for life.
The prosecutor in the 2015 case did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Billingsley’s public defender could not immediately be reached.
Relatives identified in public records as Billingsley’s mother and sister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Court records show Billingsley also pleaded guilty to a first-degree assault charge in 2009 and second-degree assault in 2011.
Police’s Special Investigations Section is working to determine if the suspect is linked to any other cases, police said.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said Billingsley shouldn’t have been free.
“There is no way in hell that he should have been out on the street,” the mayor said. “When the police go out and do their job, as they did in this case … and the state’s attorney goes out and does their work, gets the conviction. The conviction should be the conviction.”
“We are tired of talking about the same people committing the same kind of crimes over and over again.”
Officials did not provide details about any motive in LaPere’s death or any possible relationship between the tech founder and Billingsley.
The mayor said he had gotten to know LaPere in recent years, calling her “young, talented” and “devoted” to the city.
A missing person report had been filed not long before LaPere was discovered dead late Monday morning, according to police.
LaPere’s company, EcoMap Technologies, positions itself as a company that uses technology to “digitize ecosystems, ensuring anyone can easily access the information they need, so ecosystems can be as equitable, efficient, & effective as possible.”
No one with EcoMap Technologies could be immediately reached for comment.
But, in a statement to NBC affiliate WBAL of Baltimore, the company called the circumstances surrounding LaPere’s death “deeply distressing” and said she “was not only the visionary force behind EcoMap but was also a deeply compassionate and dedicated leader.”
In the 30 under 30 in 2023, Forbes said LaPere, a Johns Hopkins grad, had a team of 30 and clients including The Aspen Institute, Meta, the WXR Fund and T.Rowe Price Foundation.
The police commissioner Worley pleaded with Billingsley to stop running and turn himself in.
“If you’re out there watching … every single police officer in Baltimore City in the state of Maryland as well as U.S. Marshals are looking for you,” Worley said. “We will find you … and then we will turn it over to the state’s attorney to prosecute you to the fullest. So please turn yourself in.”
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