BELLEFONTE — More than two decades have passed, but officials have made an arrest in the alleged rape of a Penn State student in July 2000. The cold case was recently re-opened, and a discarded coffee cup led police to Kurt Alan Rillema of West Bloomfield, Michigan.
A news conference was held on April 18 at the Centre County Courthouse Annex, where Assistant District Attorney Sean McGraw made the announcement.
“We are here to discuss an arrest that occurred (Monday) morning in a case that is now almost two decades old,” McGraw said.
The alleged rape of the then-19-year-old woman took place at knifepoint on the grounds of Penn State’s Blue Golf Course. The assailant, McGraw said, was not apprehended following the attack.
“But he left behind a critical piece of evidence — his DNA,” McGraw said. “A profile was developed from that DNA by the Pennsylvania State Police’s forensic laboratory.”
From there, the profile was uploaded to a national DNA database in 2001. In 2004, officials got a break in the case.
“A search of CODIS (the national DNA database) determined that there was a match between the DNA from the Blue Course rape and DNA that had been left behind by the perpetrator of a similar rape at a golf course in Oakland County, Michigan, in 1999,” McGraw said.
Penn State police worked with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, and they both submitted the DNA and evidence to a third-party lab.
However, the case was still cold.
“Beyond that DNA, there was really no viable evidence that could lead investigators to the perpetrator. There were no eyewitnesses. There was no physical evidence, no surveillance footage, no cell phone data,” McGraw explained.
The case was kept alive because in 2001 a Penn State detective filed a criminal complaint charging rape against a “John Doe,” who was identified by his DNA profile.
“This was done to preserve the statute of limitations,” McGraw said.
In July 2021, Penn State Detective Nick Sproveri re-opened the case.
“He soon recognized that a genealogical DNA approach might well lead to the suspect, as it had done in two other recent Centre County cases,” McGraw said.
A genealogical match on Jan. 17, 2023, led police to three brothers. One of the men was a Penn State student in 2000, leading police to believe that Kurt Rillema was in State College — visiting his brother — when the rape took place.
“One of those three appeared — based on his age and his features as described by the victims — to be the most viable suspect,” McGraw said.
After interviewing the three men, police began to suspect Rillema as the culprit and began to use surveillance. According to court documents, Rillema was observed at a car dealership, where he drank a cup of coffee and placed the cup in the trash on Jan. 31, 2023.
That disposable cup was then taken as evidence by the sheriff’s office. DNA testing showed it was a match to the DNA left behind in both rape cases.
“On March 20, it was determined that the DNA from the coffee cup matched the DNA profile of the perpetrator of the 1999 Michigan rape and the 2000 Blue Course rape. The DNA from the coffee cup, the DNA from the 2000 Blue Course rape and the DNA from the 1999 Michigan rape all belonged to a 51-year-old male named Kurt Allan Rillema of West Bloomfield, Michigan,” McGraw said.
Rillema was arrested at his home on April 17 by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. He is being held without bond in Michigan. He was arraigned on April 18, McGraw said.
McGraw said Rillema should eventually be released on bond in Michigan and will be subject to extradition proceedings to Pennsylvania.
“We are in the process of discussing with the Michigan authorities the sequence of prosecution in these cases,” McGraw said.
He said that the cases will be “tried separately.”
“We will be exchanging information and coordinating with the Michigan authorities with the timing of the respective proceedings,” McGraw said.
According to McGraw, Centre County officials have been in contact with the victim.
“She’s been kept apprised throughout the investigation and she is very eager to assist the investigation,” McGraw said.
