Cybersecurity executive allegedly stabbed to death by her son in Maryland, police say

A cybersecurity executive who worked for FEMA was fatally stabbed by her son, officials said.

The body of Juanita Naomi Koilpillai, 58, was discovered outside a home in Tracys Landing, Maryland, on the afternoon of July 25 after she was reported missing, Anne Arundel County Police said in a statement.

Her son, Andrew Weylin Beavers, was arrested in Leesburg, Virginia, on Saturday, police said. He is charged with first-and-second-degree murder. Beavers, 23, lived with his mother in Tracys Landing, about 30 miles east of Washington, D.C.

Koilpillai had 30 years of experience developing systems in computer security, network management and real-time distributed software, according to her biography for Cloud Security Alliance. The biography said she was also a “a key member of FEMA’s Enterprise Security Management Team and served as Principle Investigator for several DoD initiatives."

Koilpillai co-founded CyberWolf, an automated security system used by the government, per the biography.

During their investigation, police said forensic evidence linked Beavers with his mom’s slaying through DNA on an edged weapon. Koilpillai died from “multiple sharp force injuries” in a homicide, police said the medical examiner’s office determined.

Witness interviews also developed evidence connecting Beavers to the slaying, police said.

“Evidence supports that after murdering his biological mother … he then fled to Leesburg Virginia in her vehicle,” police said.

Officers were called to the Tracys Landing home by Koilpillai’s boyfriend, who had reported her missing and told officers there was blood inside the home, police said.

Beavers was being held Tuesday morning on felony arrest warrants at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center in Virginia, said Michele Bowman, a spokeswoman with the county’s sheriff’s office.

Bowman said Beavers waived extradition on Monday. It was not clear Tuesday if he had retained an attorney.

Officials with the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

Koilpillai grew up in Sri Lanka and India and studied mathematics at Women’s Christian College in Madras, India, the earned a master’s in computer science and mathematics at the University of Kansas, the Capital Gazette reported. She and her ex-husband created Cyberwolf and later sold the company, the paper said.

Koilpillai also founded and served as CEO of Waverley Labs and started a new high-tech start-up in June called Resiliant, an information security company that received grant money from the Department of Homeland Security, according to the Capital Gazette.