Man sentenced to prison for 1999 rape at Oakland County golf course after DNA linked him to crime
Rillema, Kurt Alan
FOX 2: Oakland County, MichiganA man is on his way to prison decades after he was arrested.
West Bloomfield resident Kurt Alan Rillema, 53, was given a sentence of 10 to 15 years in jail on Wednesday for the 1999 rape of a 22-year-old woman at Oakland Township’s Twin Lakes Golf Club.
Additionally, Rillema is charged with raping a second victim at a Penn State golf course in 2000.
Two women assaulted
The backstory
She was working at a food booth on the course when a man entered the back employee door, ordered that she undress, and then sexually assaulted her, according to the Twin Lakes victim.
Although they were unable to identify a suspect, deputies were able to gather DNA evidence from the crime. A national DNA database was updated with the DNA evidence.
The second alleged assault occurred in July 2000 when a man brandishing a knife approached and assaulted a 19-year-old lady jogging at a Penn State golf course. DNA evidence was collected.
Timetable:
Even after the samples were matched in 2004 by the DNA database, no suspect was identified.
Both Penn State police and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office started searching for novel methods of identifying suspects in 2021. As a result, they forwarded evidence from the Oakland County case to Parabon Nanolabs for genetic genealogy testing.
Rilema was taken into custody and accused of the Michigan rape in 2023.
DNA leads to suspect
Look more closely:
After a certain amount of time, as allowed by state law, the evidence in the Penn State case was connected to Rillema. However, the Oakland County case’s evidence was kept safe.
In order to connect Rillema to the rapes, that evidence was essential.
Investigators have linked a West Bloomfield man to rapes on Oakland County golf courses and Penn State University in 1999 and 2000 after using DNA and genealogy to identify him.
In order to reduce the number of potential suspects to perhaps one of three brothers, Parabon Nanolabs looked back as far as the 1700s.
They began monitoring him after discovering via their inquiry that it was Rillema. Authorities claimed to have verified that Rillema was the man they were searching for using DNA from a coffee cup.
Rillema has no criminal past, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, and investigators weren’t even aware of her until the lab conducted some research.
Rillema entered a no contest plea to third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual behavior late last year. Charges of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct were dropped as a result of the plea.
The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office claims that prior to Rillema being presented with a plea agreement, the victim was consulted.
What they’re saying:
Karen McDonald, the Oakland County Prosecutor, issued the following statement:
“Rillema’s crime will result in a lengthy prison sentence. I am aware that it was difficult for the victim to relive this trauma after all these years. Her perseverance made this case possible, and I commend the law enforcement team’s unwavering efforts in ensuring that she received a fair conclusion.
Next steps:
Authorities in Pennsylvania were awaiting a potential escape from Michigan so that Rillema might be tried there at the time of the last inspection.
The Source: Court documents and the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office provided the information for this report.