PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) — A West Bloomfield Township man has been charged in connection to two decades-old sexual assault cases in both Oakland County and at Penn State University in Pennsylvania.
Kurt Alan Rillema, 51, is accused of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman at a golf course in Oakland Township in 1999. Through DNA evidence, authorities say he is linked to a similar assault in 2000 that happened at a golf course at Penn State University.
Rillema was arrested Monday in Oakland County after an investigation with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and police at both Penn State and in State College, Pennsylvania.
The assault in Oakland County happened on Sept. 6, 1999, at the Twin Lakes Gold Club in Oakland Township. At the time, the victim told deputies she was working at a food stand on the course when a man walked through the back employee door and demanded that she take her clothes off before sexually assaulting her. The victim now lives out of state, deputies said.
DNA evidence was obtained from the crime, but authorities were not able to identify a suspect. The evident was entered into a national database.
Deputies were able to obtain DNA evidence from the crime but could not identify a suspect. The DNA evidence was entered into a national DNA database.
At a golf course at Penn State on July 27, 2000, a 19-year-old woman was confronted by a man with a knife while she was jogging, investigators said. The man allegedly held a knife to her neck and sexually assaulted her.
Authorities in Pennsylvania also had DNA evidence but could not find a suspect.
The DNA database matched both cases in 2004, though there was no suspect. Evidence in Pennsylvania was later destroyed under state law.
The evidence in Oakland County was preserved and helped solve the case, the sheriff’s office said.
In July 2021, Oakland County officials and Penn State police started working the case in new ways in hopes of finding a suspect. After genetic genealogy testing traced back to the 1700s, officials narrowed the suspect down to one of three brothers.
Rillema, a construction company owner, became the prime suspect and his DNA matched evidence in both cases.
He was arraigned in Rochester Hills on charges of first-degree and second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Rillema faces up to life in prison for the first-degree charge.
A magistrate ordered that Rillema be held without bond at the Oakland County Jail until a probable cause conference on April 27.
Rillema’s charges in Pennsylvania include rape by forcible compulsion, which could carry up to 20 years in prison. It’s unclear when he will be extradited on those charges.
“Victims of violent crimes, like rape, can never forget that terrible moment,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard said in a statement. “It is incumbent on us to never give up on finding perpetrators of these crimes and bring them to justice. With new technology and investigative capabilities, sometimes we can close cases that have been open for years if not decades. That is what happened in this case. We will never give up.”
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office says there could be more victims. Anyone who may be a victim or has more information can call the sheriff's office at 248-858-4951.
