‘Repeat violent offender’ arrested for murder of 26-year-old tech CEO

globalnews.ca:

UPDATE: Baltimore police have announced the arrest of Jason Dean Billingsley, 32, who is accused of murdering 26-year-old start-up founder Pava LaPere on Monday. Billingsley was located and surrounded by a SWAT team and taken into custody “without incident.”

In a Thursday press conference, Baltimore acting police commissioner Richard Worley revealed that Billingsley had been on law enforcement’s radar for about a week before he allegedly killed LaPere. On Sept. 19, police believe Billingsley was involved in an “arson and rape” incident at a home on Edmondson Avenue.

The Baltimore Banner reports that Billingsley is accused of raping a woman and cutting her neck before dousing both her and a man with liquid and setting them on fire. The woman and man survived and were hospitalized, along with a child who was also in the house.

This incident was not a random act of violence, Worley told reporters on Thursday, adding that police have reason to believe that the victims at the Edmondson address were targeted and known to the suspect.

A warrant was issued for Billingsley’s arrest on Sept. 20 and police and U.S. Marshals were actively looking for him when LaPere was killed.

“There were several instances in which we were able to track him close to his location. However, he was still able to elude,” Worley said.

Police are still trying to determine if Billingsley and LaPere knew each other.

When asked why the public wasn’t alerted about Billingsley after the Sept. 19 rape and arson incident, Worley said that police had no indication he would try to commit random acts of violence and they didn’t want the suspect to go underground before police could locate him.

“If I would have known that he was going to go and kill someone, we