Before Jason Dean Billingsley allegedly beat to death Baltimore tech CEO Pava LaPere, he is accused of brutally attacking a couple at gunpoint and then setting them on fire, the Baltimore Banner reports.
One of those victims is now speaking out, recounting the horrific episode that left him hospitalized and requiring skin grafts.
Jonte Gilmore, 26, told the Banner that on September 19, he and his girlfriend had fallen asleep after listening to music in her West Baltimore rooming house when she heard someone shout.
The women went upstairs and a man, now identified as Billingsley, grabbed her hair and threw her to the floor.
The assailant allegedly shouted “Where that money at?” before he wrapped tape around her ankles and head, according to the Banner.
Gilmore then awoke to find a gun pointed at his face and the intruder repeating the question: “Where that money at?”
“If you try anything stupid, Imma rape your bitch upstairs!” the intruder allegedly told Gilmore, according to the Banner.
After also typing up Gilmore, the man blasted loud music and raped Gilmore’s girlfriend, forced her to urinate near Gilmore and raped her again. The attacker then tried to strangle the woman, and when she fought back, he slashed her throat. He later wiped a flammable liquid on Gilmore’s face and ignited a fire.
“I’m about to be dead, to burn up in this closet,” Gilmore said he thought in recounting the disturbing episode to the Banner.
Gilmore’s girlfriend was able to escape and find help, and she was treated for burns and later released from a hospital. Gilmore underwent skin grafting on Wednesday.
Billingsley, 32, reportedly knew Gilmore and his girlfriend, prompting police to believe the attack was targeted.
Authorities are now exploring whether Billingsley may be responsible for unsolved cases in the area.
He has served prison time for rape and was on a sex-offender registry, and at the time of the attacks, he had been under state supervision after being released early for good behavior.
Gilmore said he cried when he heard about LaPere’s death.
“This shouldn’t have happened to her,” Gilmore told the Banner. “She didn’t deserve this.”
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[Feature Photo: Jason Billingsley/Baltimore Police Department]
