Michigan man is linked to sexual assaults from 20 years ago via DNA

A Michigan man has been arrested for two violent [sexual assaults] on golf courses over 20 years ago – after cold case detectives matched the crime scene DNA to his coffee cup. Kurt Rillema (pictured left), 51, was arraigned on April 18 in connection with a 1999 [sexual assault] at the Twin Lakes Golf Club in Michigan, and another in 2000 at a Penn State University golf course. The cases went cold after police failed to identify a suspect – despite confirming in 2004 the DNA at both incidents was a match.

It wasn’t until 2021 that detectives in both states attempted to find another way to identify the suspect. Using genetic genealogy, police were able to narrow down the results to three people: Rillema (pictured) and his two brothers. Investigators eventually obtained a Styrofoam coffee cup Rillema used, and confirmed he was a match, police announced last week.

Rillema, who lives in West Bloomfield, was at the Twin Lakes Golf Club (pictured) located in Oakland Township, Michigan when he allegedly entered an employee only area and attacked a 22-year-old woman. He immediately left the area but his DNA was at the scene, Law and Crime reported. Less than a year later, on July 27, 2000, Rillema allegedly attacked a woman, 19, who was jogging on the Blur Course at Penn State University. 

While at the 18th hole, Rillema supposedly stopped the victim to ask her for a band aid. Rillema then pulled out a knife, held it to her throat, punched her in the stomach and [sexually assaulted] her, the victim told police. He was arrested while at his home and charged with first and second degree sexual conduct.

Rillema (pictured) is set to be charged with felony counts of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault in Pennsylvania. The places he attacked his victims had no cameras or witnesses, according to Centre Daily Times. Police described Rillema as a businessman and golfer and believe there are other victims. Oakland County Sheriff Michael K. Bouchard is asking any other potential victims who were assaulted in similar circumstances to file a police report. Rillema’s case is the most recent in a growing number of long-ago crimes solved by new DNA techniques. 

Last month a Loogootee, Indiana man was arrested in connection with the 1989 murder of 23-year-old Mary Luicile Willfong. Willfong was found by deer hunters in the woods of Georgia after being sexually assaulted and strangled, police said. Over the years, police went after several suspects but said the DNA did not match the evidence taken from the victim’s body. The case then went cold for 30 years  until the arrest of Larry Padgett Jr., 59 (pictured). 

At the time of the murder, investigators had been told that Willfong had been seen shortly before she was killed getting into a tractor-trailer with a man at the Forest Park farmers market outside of Atlanta. That tip prompted several suspect interviews, but all were eventually dismissed. But then, in early 2019, investigator Marc Mansfield was assigned to the freshly re-opened case and submitted the original evidence to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab to be tested with newer technology. He also took the evidence to Miami for a genetic genealogy trace using DNA from Willfong. As a result of his actions, investigators were able to identity 59-year-old Larry Padgett Jr. (pictured) as a suspect. 

The FBI Evidence Recovery Team and Washington Police Department in Indiana were able to get DNA evidence from Padgett and match it to the DNA taken from Willfong’s body. During the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers discovered more evidence linking Padgett to Willfong’s murder. Padget is one of many killers who committed murder several decades ago and is just now being brought to justice because of advancements in DNA testing technology. Pictured: Padget during his arrest.

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