This aerial image of Hunter Run’s Golf Club in Cape Coral was photographed Tuesday, March 28, 2023. A possible 650-unit apartment complex could be coming to Cape Coral, which will be built over the golf club. Residents of the surrounding homes are against this development and getting ready to oppose the zoning change. 003 Fnp Rr 032823 Cape Golf Course

Thanks to DNA found on a coffee cup, police were able to link a pair of unsolved rape cases on golf courses to an alleged perpetrator.

51-year-old Kurt Rillema, who lives in Michigan, has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman at the Twin Lakes Golf Club in 1999 in Oakland Charter Township as well as a jogger on a Penn State University golf course in 2000.

The first attack occurred at a food stand on the golf course.

“An unknown man came through the back employer door, demanded she take off her clothes and then sexually assaulted her,” according to a press release from Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

Nine months later, Rillema allegedly approached a 19-year-old woman jogging near a golf course at Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania if she had a Band-Aid and if she knew where the clubhouse was. When she tried to walk away, he allegedly put a knife to her throat, dragged her into the woods, punched her, and raped her, per court papers cited by Law&Crime.

At the time, DNA from both cases was uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System, but there was no match. In 2021, police officers from both cases collaborated and sent evidence to a lab for genetic genealogy testing. From there, DNA investigators were able to eventually narrow the pool of potential suspects to three brothers.

Rillema became their focus because he lived near the Twin Lakes Golf Club and his brother matriculated at Penn State at the time of the second attack. After surveilling him, officers were able to obtain a discarded coffee cup with a sample of his DNA earlier this year, apparently confirming a match.

“He’s an avid golfer and apparently plays golf all over the country,” Bouchard noted in his press conference, adding that there could be more victims.

In Michigan, Rillema has been charged with first- and second-degree felony criminal sexual conduct. In Pennsylvania, he will be charged with felony counts of rape, sexual assault, and aggravated indecent assault. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

Help is always available to you. If you are a victim or know one, please call the national hotlines for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673

[Fox News]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.