Joann Katrinak had plans to go shopping with her infant son, Alex, and his grandmother on December 15, 1994. They never arrived. Andrew Katrinak reported his wife and son missing. The family went looking. When Joann’s car turned up about a hundred yards from their home in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, Andrew refused to have it moved. He was afraid it held something the police would need. [1]
Officers found signs of forced entry at the house and a cut telephone line. They initially examined Andrew as a suspect and cleared him. In April 1995, a farmer found Joann and Alex in woods in Heidelberg Township. Joann had been shot. The precise cause of Alex’s death remained uncertain in the account the court later summarized. [1]
Ten hairs in the car
Patricia Rorrer had ridden horses along the path near where Joann and Alex were found. She and Andrew had once been romantically involved and stayed in contact afterward. Witnesses described a call before the disappearance in which Joann told Rorrer to stop calling. The prosecution saw a motive in that history. In the car Andrew had insisted be left in place, police had recovered something the laboratory could examine. [1]
They collected ten hairs from the back of the driver’s headrest. Six became important because they were not attributed to the Katrinak family. Some of the questioned hairs went to the FBI in July 1995. Police collected hairs from Rorrer for comparison that November. Microscopic examination and early mitochondrial DNA testing were different steps. The mitochondrial result included Rorrer as a possible source. That type of result can be shared by more than one person. [1]
Rorrer was arrested in June 1997. On March 9, 1998, a jury convicted her of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping. Her sentence included life imprisonment and a consecutive kidnapping term. The questions over the hair evidence would follow the case long after the trial. [1]
A test that came years later
In 2005, Rorrer sought additional testing. The requested material included hairs from the car and a cigarette butt and fingernail fragment from near the discovery site. The parties agreed on Orchid Cellmark, a lab chosen by the defense. According to the Superior Court’s 2017 opinion, the later nuclear DNA results attributed all six seatback hairs and the cigarette butt to Rorrer. The fingernail fragment yielded no testable material. Those results belong to the post-conviction record. [1]
The defense challenged the identity and handling of the submitted material, arguing that reference hairs might have been substituted for hairs from the car. During the testing proceedings, counsel had accepted the chain of custody for three mounted hairs while distinguishing other material whose handling was disputed. In rejecting the substitution claim, the court pointed to a practical problem with the proposed sequence. The questioned hairs had been sent out months before police obtained Rorrer’s reference samples. [1]
The filing deadline
In October 2017 the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed dismissal of Rorrer’s fourth post-conviction petition. The ruling turned on the filing deadline and whether she qualified for an exception. Another petition led to a trial court denial in July 2024. Lehigh Valley Press reported on the hearing and the court’s earlier ruling that June. On December 22, 2025, the Superior Court affirmed the denial because the petition was late and did not meet an exception. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court declined further review on June 30, 2026. The convictions stand. The latest rulings dealt with whether the claims could be heard under the deadline rules. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Joann and Alex’s family began with a missed shopping trip and an empty car close to home. Andrew asked police to keep that car where it was. Years later, courts were still working through what had been collected from it, when it left for testing and what each examination could establish. [1]
Case brief
Catasauqua / Lehigh County, Pennsylvania · 1994
- Recorded outcome
- Rorrer was convicted in 1998. The Superior Court affirmed denial of her later petition in 2025, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined review in June 2026.
Key moments
People in this case
- Joann and Alex Katrinak
Murder victims
Photo at source · Forensic Files Files · identified case photographs - Patricia Rorrer
Convicted of murdering Joann and Alex Katrinak
Photo at source · Forensic Files Now · labeled photographs
Smallbones · Image source · CC0
Look closer · 3 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. These original illustrations explain the record; they are not photographs of the actual evidence.
The hairs from the car
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Different examinations of the seatback hairs supplied different kinds of associations. The original mitochondrial result could include Rorrer as a source.
Inclusion is not unique identification. The diagram does not depict an actual DNA profile or hair sample.
The later nuclear testing
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The court recounts later nuclear DNA results attributing six hairs and a cigarette butt to Rorrer. The fingernail did not yield testable material.
These were post-conviction tests. Evidence handling remained disputed by Rorrer; the image is an explanatory illustration.
The chain-of-custody question
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The courts compared the order of collection and submission when addressing a proposed substitution of reference hairs.
This is not a real evidence label or custody form, and it does not erase later challenges.
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
Follow the locations
Put the story on the map.
Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- Commonwealth v. Rorrer — fourth PCRA petition
- Judge Marks denies Patty Rorrer’s request for post-conviction relief — Lehigh Valley PressJune 17 denial with opportunity for further claims; not final resolution of every later proceeding.
- Commonwealth v. Rorrer, 1888 EDA 2024 - Pennsylvania Superior CourtAffirmance of the July 2024 denial on the statutory time bar.
- Commonwealth v. Rorrer, 44 MAL 2026 - Pennsylvania Supreme CourtOrder denying the petition for allowance of appeal.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 643 words