Man sentenced to prison for 1999 rape at Oakland County golf course after DNA linked him to crime
Kurt Alan Rillema
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Decades after raping an employee at a golf course in Oakland County, a man is headed to prison.
Kurt Alan Rillema, 53, of West Bloomfield, was sentenced Wednesday to 10-15 years in prison for the 1999 rape of a 22-year-old woman at Twin Lakes Golf Club in Oakland Township.
Rillema is also accused of raping another victim in 2000 at a Penn State golf course.
Two women assaulted
The backstory:
The Twin Lakes victim reported that she was working at a food stand on the course when a man came through the back employee door, demanded she take off her clothes, and then sexually assaulted her.
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.
The second alleged assault happened in July 2000 when a 19-year-old woman who was jogging at a Penn State golf course was approached by a man with a knife and assaulted. DNA evidence was taken.
Timeline:
In 2004, the DNA database matched the samples together but there still was no suspect.
In 2021, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and Penn State police both began to look for new ways to identify a suspect, and they sent evidence from the Oakland County case to ParabonNanolabs for genetic genealogy testing.
In 2023, Rilema was arrested and charged with the Michigan rape.
DNA leads to suspect
Dig deeper:
Before the cases were linked to Rillema, the evidence in the Penn State case after a period of time as permitted under state law. The evidence in the Oakland County case was preserved, though.
That evidence was key in linking Rillema to the rapes.
ParabonNanolabs traced the genealogy as far back as the 1700s, to narrow down the list of suspects to possibly one of three brothers.
Through their investigation, they learned it was Rillema, and started surveilling him. Authorities said DNA from a coffee cup was used to confirm that Rillema was the man they were looking for.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Rillema has no criminal history and wasn't even on investigators' radar until the lab did some digging.
Late last year, Rillema pleaded no contest to third and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. As a result of the plea, charges of first and second-degree criminal sexual conduct were dismissed.
According to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, the victim was consulted before Rillema was offered a plea deal.
What they're saying:
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald released a statement:
"Rillema will serve serious prison time for his crime. I know reliving this trauma after so many years wasn’t easy for the victim. Her strength sustained this case, and I applaud the relentless work by law enforcement that allowed us to deliver a just ending for her."
What's next:
On last check, authorities in Pennsylvania were waiting for a possible extrication from Michigan so that Rillema could be tried there.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office and court records.