A Baltimore jury awarded more than $21 million to two people who were attacked and set on fire two years ago by the man also convicted of killing tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere days later.
The jury award came at the conclusion of a seven-day trial, where the pair sought damages from Jason Billingsley as well as Property Pals LLC and Eden’s Homes, the owner of the apartment building and its property management company, which employed him as a maintenance worker.
Billingsley, 34, of Sandtown-Winchester, remains imprisoned after pleading guilty and being sentenced to three life terms for the brutal September 2023 attack on April Hurley and Jonte Gilmore and the killing of LaPere, the 26-year-old founder of EcoMap Technologies.
Arrested near a train station
A few days after LaPere, a Johns Hopkins University graduate, was found dead at her apartment building, Baltimore Police revealed that Billingsley was also wanted for the prior attack on Hurley and Gilmore at an Upton rooming house. Billingsley remained at large for five days after LaPere’s body was found at her apartment building on the 300 block of West Franklin Street in Mount Vernon. He was ultimately arrested near a train station in Bowie.
Police described a gruesome series of attacks in charging documents for both cases. In the Upton case, Hurley told police that a man identifying himself as a maintenance worker kicked in her door, pointed a gun at her and Gilmore before handcuffing the man and tying her up with duct tape. Hurley said that Billingsley then raped her and slashed her neck with a knife before pouring gasoline on the victims and setting them, as well as the apartment, on fire.
Hurley and Gilmore both survived the attack, and sued the Upton building’s owner and manager last year alleging that they shared liability for his assaults, trespass and false imprisonment. They also accused the companies of negligently hiring Billingsley, noting they should have flagged his criminal history, the complaint alleges.
“I’m grateful to be here, and I’m thankful that me and Jonte survived that day to be able to fight for this ruling,” Hurley said at a Tuesday news conference.
Three days later, surveillance footage showed a man identified as Billingsley outside of LaPere’s apartment building waving to the 26-year-old in the lobby, police wrote in charging documents. The young entrepreneur opened the door for him and the two entered the elevator together; later footage shows the man “scrambling for an exit.”
Outrage over release
LaPere’s killing led to outrage over Billingsley’s release from prison, where he had been serving a 30-year sentence for a 2013 first-degree sex offense before being released in October 2022 due to diminution or “good time” credits. Months after LaPere’s killing, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed two bills into law in her honor — one prohibiting people convicted of first-degree rape from earning diminution credits, and another funding programs for young entrepreneurs.
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