- The mom of the man wanted in the killing of a Baltimore tech CEO wants her son to surrender.
- "I told him to turn himself in because they're going to kill him," the mom told NBC News.
The mother of the repeat criminal offender who is wanted in connection to the killing of a young Maryland tech CEO said that she has pleaded with her son via a text message to surrender to police, according to a report by NBC News.
"I told him to turn himself in because they're going to kill him," Scarlett Billingsley, 72, told NBC News. "I don't want police to shoot him because they think he has a gun."
Billingsley identified herself to the news outlet as the mother of 32-year-old Jason Billingsley, who is being sought in connection to the death of 26-year-old Pava LaPere.
LaPere, the founder and CEO of the startup EcoMap Technologies who recently made it on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, was found dead with signs of blunt-force trauma at a luxury apartment building in Baltimore on Monday around 11:30 a.m., police said.
Scarlett Billingsley told NBC News that her son — who police have described as "armed and dangerous" — showed her a gun on the day that LaPere's body was found by officers with the Baltimore Police Department.
The mother told the news outlet that she believes her son is trying to sell the weapon but that she has no clue where he is.
"He's not going to tell me," said the mother who explained that she last saw her son on Monday when he visited with her for a few minutes.
"I don't even know how he met that girl, where he met that girl, or how he got into her apartment," Scarlett Billingsley told NBC News.
Police have said that investigators do not believe Jason Billingsley and LaPere knew each other.
The man's mother told NBC News that she was sorry to LaPere's family.
"I am so sorry for what that mother is going through," Scarlett Billingsley said. "I'm very sorry if he did it."
In the aftermath of LaPere's death, police launched a manhunt for Jason Billingsley, who is a convicted sex offender with a violent history.
Authorities on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for him on several charges, including first-degree murder, assault, and reckless endangerment, in connection to the death of LaPere.