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 2011, Billingsley was sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges that included attempted rape but was paroled in 2022, said Ivan J. Bates, state’s attorney for Baltimore.
Billingsley also had arrests in 2013 and 2009 on charges that included second-degree assault and robbery, police said.
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.”
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.”