A man pleaded guilty Monday to attacking a couple in West Baltimore and setting them on fire, and is expected to admit in court Friday that he killed tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere.
Jason Billingsley, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder, charges stemming from a September home invasion during which authorities said Billingsley forced his way into a basement apartment in Upton, bound a couple at gunpoint and raped the woman before dousing them in gasoline and setting them — and the residence — ablaze.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert K. Taylor said Monday’s plea was part of a “package deal” with prosecutors that will see Billingsley admit in court Friday to killing LaPere three days after the home invasion. He is charged with first-degree murder in LaPere’s death.
In the home invasion case, Taylor sentenced Billingsley to two terms of life in prison, to be served simultaneously, rather than one after the other. Taylor’s punishment followed an agreement Billingsley struck with prosecutors that could allow him an opportunity for parole much later in life.
“I don’t see any point in me giving a lecture. The facts speak for themselves,” Taylor said.
People convicted of crimes of violence in Maryland become eligible for parole after serving 50% of their sentence, but it’s up to the Parole Commission whether to grant someone early release.
Prosecutors in the office of Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates previously indicated they would seek penalties of life in prison without the possibility of parole — the maximum penalty under Maryland law — if they secured convictions in both the home invasion and murder cases.
In a statement, Bates, a Democrat, said his office’s “hearts continue to be with the survivors” and that he hoped the outcome “brings them, their loved ones, and their community some measure of closure and healing.”
“Today’s plea ensures that a dangerous individual will spend the rest of his life behind bars, unable to harm anyone else,” Bates said. “The horrific acts of false imprisonment, assault, and attempted murder have left a lasting impact on the lives of not only the victims but our city as a whole.”
Early on the morning of Sept. 19, 2023, Billingsley identified himself as a maintenance worker as he banged on the door of the basement apartment and yelled that “there was a flood upstairs,” Assistant State’s Attorney Tonya LaPolla said in court.
When April Hurley came to the door, Billingsley kicked his way in and pointed a gun at her and her boyfriend at the time, Jonte Gilmore, according to charging documents. Billingsley then bound Hurley with duct tape and handcuffed Gilmore before sexually assaulting Hurley repeatedly and slashing her neck with a knife.
“When Ms. Hurley pretended to be dead,” LaPolla said, “the defendant poured gasoline on her” and Gilmore and set the residence ablaze.
LaPolla said Hurley escaped from a window to get help. Medics took her to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and Gilmore to the burn center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Both sustained second- and third-degree burns, according to charging documents, and LaPolla said Gilmore required several skin grafts.
“The impact that this heinous attack has had on my life is nothing short of devastating,” Hurley told Taylor on Monday, saying that she suffers from constant fear for her safety, many sleepless nights and post-traumatic stress disorder that requires therapy and medication management.
She said she struggles to be in public now because “when people speak to me, now I can see their eyes are focused on the scars on my neck.”
Hurley also testified to being repulsed by the thought of intimacy.
“My body has been violated,” she said.
LaPolla said Hurley and Gilmore identified Billingsley “as their assailant.”
The Baltimore Sun typically does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Hurley and her lawyers held a news conference to announce their lawsuit against Billingsley and the companies that employed him as a building maintenance worker.
In a statement Monday, the attorneys representing Hurley in her civil case, of the firm Murphy, Falcon and Murphy, said they were “relieved” that Billingsley “will spend the rest of his natural life in prison.”
“Yet, no sentence can undo the trauma she endured — not only at the hands of Jason Billingsley but also due to the negligence of those who were responsible for property where she lived,” the civil attorneys said.
Detectives wrote in charging documents that they found “fruits of the crime” in a backpack found in the bushes in the backyard of the Upton rowhouse. In the black and lime green backpack, investigators found a serrated knife, rolls of duct tape, several pieces of used tape with hair on them, handcuffs, a hooded sweatshirt and condom wrappers, charging documents say. Next to the backpack, they found a bleach container, a gas can and a lighter.
LaPolla also said police recovered a used condom, and that DNA testing revealed Billingsley had used it and indicated he sexually assaulted Hurley.
Billingsley’s attorney, public defender Jason Rodriguez, advised his client of the various rights he was giving up by pleading guilty, but did not say anything about the charges or Billingsley in court. A spokesperson for the Office of the Public Defender did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Six days after Billingsley broke into the basement apartment, on Sept. 25, 2023, Baltimore Police rushed to an apartment building in Mount Vernon where someone found a woman’s body on the roof, bloodied with “apparent head trauma,” charging documents say. Medics immediately declared LaPere dead.
Her killing rocked the tight-knit tech community of Baltimore, where the 26-year-old LaPere was beloved and considered an up-and-coming leader.
As the community mourned her, homicide detectives reviewed security camera footage from her apartment complex. The video showed LaPere enter the building’s lobby around 11:30 p.m. Sept. 22 and later a man in a gray hoodie summoned her to the front door with a wave, according to charging documents. Investigators saw the man get on the elevator with LaPere.
Later, detectives wrote of the footage, the “male suspect can be seen leaving the stairwell into the lobby with his gray hooded sweatshirt in his hand scrambling for an exit. The Black male located the front door and could see him (sic) wiping his right hand on his shorts before exiting the building.”
A witness’s review of the security video and department databases helped detectives identify Billingsley.
Billingsley spoke with investigators for about two hours following his Sept. 28 arrest near a train station in Bowie. Taylor previously ruled that prosecutors could play video of his interrogation at the murder trial, denying a request from his lawyer to exclude the footage.
LaPere’s killing inspired two bills in the Maryland General Assembly last session, one of which, proponents said, would prevent people like Billingsley from being in a position to attack LaPere when he did.
In 2015, Billingsley was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with all but 14 years behind bars suspended, for a first-degree sex offense. He was released early in October 2022 after earning diminution, or “good time,” credits while incarcerated.
One of the bills passed in LaPere’s honor will prohibit people convicted of first-degree rape from earning diminution credits. Signed into law by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, that law takes effect Oct. 1.
LaPere’s family said in a statement Monday that they’ve endured persistent pain since she was killed, 339 days ago.
“Justice may be served, but it will never fill the void, erase the grief, or replace the impact Pava would have had if given the full life that she deserved,” the family said.
They added that they would expand upon their statement in court Friday.
