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Centre County Cold Case Solved

Authorities with the Centre County District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday that police have made an arrest in connection to a decades-old rape case that reportedly occurred on the Penn State University golf course.

According to the “John Doe” affidavit, authorities say on July 27th, 2000, Penn State Police were contacted to investigate an alleged sexual assault that had reportedly occurred on the Penn State Blue Course Golf Course.

Police say the victim had reportedly been escorted to the course’s “Pro Shop” after she was found in a wooded area near the 18th hole.

Investigators say, according to the victim, she had been raped by an unknown male while she was jogging.

Police say the victim reported that the man had been “running parallel” to her prior to approaching her and asking various questions.

According to the affidavit, the victim began to walk away when the man reportedly came up behind her and held a knife to her throat.

Police say the victim was reportedly struck in the stomach by her attacker and then sexually assaulted.

Investigators say police were not able to match the DNA from the victim’s clothing to any suspects until 2004, when police in Rochester, Michigan reported a similar crime that had occurred in 1999.

Upon further testing, authorities say the DNA from both cases were a match but police still were unable to identify any suspects.

Authorities say the case was reopened in July of 2021, and additional DNA testing created a suspect profile that reportedly matched three brothers.

Police say one of the men, Kurt Alan Rillema, now age 51, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, reportedly matched the description of the suspect that the victim had given to police.

According to court documents, police began conducting surveillance of Rillema earlier this year and reportedly recovered a coffee cup from a car dealership to test his DNA against the DNA from the crime scenes.

Police say the DNA from the cup matched the DNA from the scene.

Authorities also noted in their investigation that one of Rillema’s brothers attended Penn State at the time of the alleged rape and police concluded that Rillema had visited his brother when he is alleged to have committed the assault.

According to charging documents, Rillema faces multiple counts of rape, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault.

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