Frank LaPere turned and directly looked at the man who killed his daughter. Then he apologized.
Inside a courtroom in Baltimore, LaPere said he was sorry that Jason Billingsley endured a tough upbringing.
But LaPere said Billingsley’s unhappy early life did not give him the right to take the life of another person.
On Friday, Billingsley pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to first-degree murder for killing Frank LaPere’s daughter, Pava LaPere, on the roof of her apartment building on West Franklin Street between North Eutaw and North Howard streets in Mount Vernon. She was 26.
Baltimore Police discovered LaPere’s body on Sept. 25, 2023. She was a rising star in tech circles who started EcoMap Technologies while a student at Johns Hopkins University and had been recently named to the Forbes “30 Under 30″ list in the category of social impact.
“You have taken away so much,” Frank LaPere said in the Elijah E. Cummings Courthouse, occasionally removing his glasses to wipe away tears. “But Pava would be proud of what was accomplished.”
Circuit Judge Robert Taylor Jr. later ordered Billingsley, 33, of Sandtown-Winchester, to serve two consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole.
“I try not to judge people by their worst acts,” Taylor said. “But no one in any community, in my opinion, will be safe as you as long as you are free.”
Billingsley’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Jason Rodriguez, said his client from the beginning has expressed remorse. He then made a brief statement.
“I hold myself fully accountable,” Billingsley said. “I’m very remorseful. I sincerely, deeply apologize.”
When he finished making his apology, a man shouted, “That’s bold!” Sheriff’s deputies escorted him out of the courtroom.
Meanwhile, Pava LaPere’s friend, Shrenik Jain, recalled her kind spirit, wry sense of humor and tireless work ethic. “Baltimore,” he said, “will never have another Pava Marie LaPere.”
Her mother, Caroline LaPere, described herself as a pacifist who abhors violence.
She said her daughter should not have been killed. The criminal justice system and society, she said, need to be improved.
“Like my father and Jesus said, just love one another,” Caroline LaPere said.
Police found Pava LaPere with “obvious signs of trauma and in a partial state of undress.” Medics pronounced her dead at the scene, Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Stock said.
The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that the cause of death was blunt force injuries and strangulation. The manner of death was homicide.
Stock said investigators found a brick with “suspected blood,” which contained Pava LaPere’s DNA.
Surveillance video showed that Pava LaPere entered her apartment building at about 10:32 p.m. and sat in the lobby. She then let Billingsley inside, and the two of them together went into the elevator, Stock said.
At about 11:08 p.m., she said, Billingsley came down the stairs, left the building and wiped his hand on his shorts. He was no longer wearing a sweatshirt.
Billingsley, she said, later admitted to a witness who drove him out of Baltimore to “strangling a lady on her roof.” He also waived his Miranda rights and confessed to the killing.
On Monday, Billingsley pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder for an earlier attack on a man and a woman at a building on Edmondson Avenue in West Baltimore.
On Sept. 19, 2023, Billingsley held Jonte Gilmore and April Hurley in their basement bedroom hostage at gunpoint.
Next, Billingsley sexually assaulted Hurley, beat her, strangled her, smothered her and cut her back and throat. He then poured gasoline on her and around the room and started a fire.
The Baltimore Banner does not identify survivors of sexual assault without their permission. Hurley has publicly spoken about the attack during an interview and at news conferences.
The killing led to scrutiny of the Baltimore Police Department and the criminal justice system in Maryland.
Police did not alert the public about the first attack, claiming that it was a “targeted act.” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said law enforcement tirelessly worked to apprehend Billingsley but he avoided being captured.
In 2015, Billingsley pleaded guilty to first-degree sex offense and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 16 years suspended, plus five years’ probation. He was denied parole but released in 2022 on credits for good conduct.
Lawmakers passed legislation that prevents some convicted sex offenses from automatically earning time off their sentences for good behavior. Gov. Wes Moore signed the Pava Marie LaPere Act into law.
Family members and friends of Pava LaPere filled the press room in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office after the hearing. Hurley and her attorneys, Malcolm Ruff and William “Billy” Murphy Jr., also attended and spoke at the news conference.
“Because I’m here,” Hurley said. “I’m able to speak on my encounter with this evil person, whereas other victims are not able to speak on what happened to them.”
Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates told reporters that he wanted to be clear: Billingsley, he said, “should never see the light of day again.”
