Centre County Assistant District Attorney Sean McGraw is pictured during a press conference, announcing the arrest of Kurt Rillema, of West Bloomfield, Mich., for the rape of a woman in 2000. PHOTO PROVIDED

BELLEFONTE — A Michigan man has been arrested and charged with rape in two rape cases that took place in two states — including at a golf course in State College.

The Centre County District Attorney’s office issued an arrest warrant for Kurt Rillema, of West Bloomfield, Mich., and allege he forcibly raped a 19-year-old woman on July 27, 2000 at the Penn State Blue Golf Course along West College Avenue near its 18th hole.

DNA collected from the victim was what led to the arrest almost 23 years later, as authorities from Penn State University worked with law enforcement in Oakland County, Mich., who had a similar case of assault that took place on a golf course in 1999.

Rillema was arrested and charged in Michigan, authorities said.

A timeline of events leading up to this week’s arrest are as follows:

On July 27, 2000 at about 8:30 p.m., Penn State University Police responded to reports of sexual assault at the Penn State Blue Golf Course, 1523 W. College Ave., State College.

According to police, officers met with a 19-year-old woman, who said she was raped by an unknown man near the 18th hole in a group of trees.

The victim told police at the time that she was jogging on the property of the golf course near North Atherton Street on a path that traveled west through the property. Authorities noted this path is still in use in 2023.

The victim said she’d turned right onto a different path which lead to the clubhouse of the golf course when she encountered a man near the 17th hole of the course. She described him as being white, approximately 25-26 years old — older than college age — approximately 5’10” with a thin build, brown hair, brown eyes and hair that was wavy on top and short on the sides with a clean shaven face. The victim said the man was not wearing a shirt and described him as having a “farmer’s tan” and wearing “Docker” style khaki shorts, brown belt and white/tan golf spikes.

The victim said she passed the man while she was jogging and noticed he ran parallel to her before making contact with her, asking for a band aid.

The victim said she did not have one and said he then asked her for directions to the course’s clubhouse. The victim tried to leave the area after telling him she did not know. She told police the man approached her from behind and put a pocket knife to her throat, forcing her into a wooded area where he assaulted her.

After he assaulted her, the victim said the man told her not to “tell anyone or else he would come after her” before fleeing the area.

The victim was taken to Centre Community Hospital — now Mount Nittany Medical Center — for evaluation where a sexual assault evidence kit was performed. Physical and biological evidence was collected and stored.

The evidence was taken to PSP’s Bureau of Forensic Services in Harrisburg for analysis on July 30, 2000 by PSUPD.

In October of that year, the lad provided a report that identified spermatozoa. A swab was forwarded to the PSP Greensburg DNA Laboratory for further testing.

Through this testing, a DNA profile was created for a John Doe in 2001. Attempts to match the unidentified profile with a male in the Combined DNA Index System were unsuccessful at the time.

In June of 2011, Det. Ryan Olson of PSUPD filed a criminal complaint against the John Doe, charging him with rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and other misdemeanour offenses.

In July 2021, the case was reopened and PSUPD Detective Nicholas Sproveri reopened the case, contacting the Oakland County Sherrif’s in Michigan, regarding a similar case.

The case in Michigan took place on Sept. 6, 1999 at the Twin Lakes Golf Course in Oakland, Mich.

According to reports, a woman told police she was working at a food/beverage building in the back portion of the course when a man entered the facility and asked for directions to the main clubhouse. After giving him directions, the victim told Oakland police he left, then returned about 10 minutes later while she was in the back of the building.

The victim said the man threatened her with violence and proceeded to rape her before fleeing the area.

The DNA profiles obtained from this assault, and the one that occurred in State College were confirmed to be the same.

Olson and Det. Sgt. Eric Tremonti of Oakland PD worked together to investigate both incidents.

Olson then contacted Parabon Nanolabs, which utilizes Arbor BioSciences, a private lab in Ann Arbor, Mich., in order to use the genetic genealogy process to try and identify a possible suspect for both cases.

In January 2022, the sexual assault kits for both incidents were submitted to the lab and delivered to Arbor BioSciences.

In December 2022, Parabon confirmed the DNA sample provided showed the suspect was a white man with mostly fair skin, most likely brown or hazel eyes and brown hair. His ancestry was European with Northern European being the prominent point.

On Jan. 17, 2023, Olson and Tremonti received Parabon’s Genetic Genealogy Report which identify three likely males — brothers — of which Rillema was the oldest.

Each brother was investigated, with it being determined Rillema was likely to have committed both rapes.

According to investigators, Rillema was “older than college age” as the victim in 2000 states as he was 28 at the time of the rape. Documents state his driver’s license photo also showed similar traits as the victim described at the time, such as thick eyebrows and hair a similar style at the time.

It was further noted his brother was a student at Penn State during the time of the assault and he was an avid golfer.

On Jan. 31, surveillance was conducted on Rillema to “surreptitiously” obtain his DNA. Rillema was observed drinking coffee a from Styrofoam cup at a car dealership in Oakland County, Mich. After the cup was discarded, Oakland police took it into custody and tested the DNA against the samples obtained from the assaults.

According to a forensic lab, on March 20, it was confirmed the DNA found on the cup and those collected from the assaults matched Rillema. According to documents, “the probability of the contributor being a person other than Kurt Rillema is 1 in 510 sextillion.”