From Staff reports

BELLEFONTE — A Reedsville man convicted of brutally beating and raping a former Penn State woman nearly 30 years ago was sentenced Monday to 10 to 20 years in state prison in Centre County Court.

Scott R. Williams, now 52, was sentenced by Centre County Judge Brian Marshal. According to news reports, Williams received credits for about 2 ½ months served in the Centre County Correctional Facility.

According to court documents, a DNA sample was taken from the victim at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville on May 13, 1995, after she was found in a disheveled state by a passerby.

In 2002, State College police asked the FBI to perform an updated test on the DNA evidence.

Additional testing was performed and the profile was stored in a law enforcement database.

In 2020, police sent the samples to two companies to see if the DNA profile matched genetic genealogy in order to identify a suspect. An initial report from one of the companies indicated that the suspect is a white male of European descent. Through genealogy, a woman later found to be a blood relative of Williams was identified, questioned and agreed to provide a DNA sample for confirmation, police said.

In February 2021, police observed Williams at an event in Mifflin County, hoping to surreptitiously obtain items handled by Williams to make a DNA comparison, according to court documents. Police were able to obtain items discarded by another family member at that event, and again confirmed a relationship using DNA, documents state.

Detectives later gathered discarded items at Williams’ home that were tested and compared. As a result of those tests, police said they identified Williams as the only member of the household who could both have similar DNA and have committed the crime under investigation.