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Man Pleads Guilty To Raping Four Penn State Students Between 2010 and 2017
Police utilized genetic genealogy screening to identify Jeffrey Fields as the man behind four rapes in State College starting more than a decade ago.
A man accused of raping four Pennsylvania State women pleaded guilty on Thursday to 17 out of the 19 charges brought against him, reported by ABC 27.
Jeffrey Fields, 37, pleaded guilty to felony rape and sexual assault charges and is being held in Centre County Correctional facility without bail, according to court documents.
Three of the four victims attended the hearing via video conference, reported local outlet Centre Daily.
State College Police arrested Fields on July 21, 2020 in connection to four rapes committed between 2010 and 2017, according to a media release.
State College Police stated that all four victims were between the ages of 19 and 20 and had been assaulted outdoors in the borough of State College.
The criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime said that “Victim #1” returned to her apartment during the early hours of August 22, 2010. The victim’s roommate opened the door to the victim who was “crying, soaking wet, and in a highly disheveled, intoxicated condition.” The victim also suffered several abrasions and scratches on her body, according to the documents.
The second victim reported that after leaving a frat party she had entered a vehicle she thought would take her home, where she was struck and raped by an unidentified male. The third victim had been walking home when a man approached her and asked if she needed help getting home. When she responded “no” he grabbed her, beat her to the point of unconsciousness and raped her behind a building, according to the criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint reported that the fourth victim had also been walking home alone when her assaulter grabbed her from behind and raped her.
Police reported that DNA was collected during each rape examination of the victims and the samples were sent to the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Lab. The samples were connected to a single unknown suspect in 2018, and then to Fields via genetic genealogy.
According to the criminal complaint, Detective Bosak eventually requested DNA samples from Fields’ parents, and the comparison ultimately pointed to Fields — the couple's only biological son — as the primary suspect.
Fields was scheduled for a pre-trial conference on March 17, according to court documents.
