Attorneys representing Butler County’s lone death row inmate said Thursday they have evidence the 1986 murder he was convicted of took place at an unknown location, not where prosecutors said it occurred.

Arguments over the admissibility of evidence in a post conviction relief petition seeking a new trial filed by attorney’s representing Donald Mitchell Tedford, 75, were held before Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Kubit.

Tedford, of Somerset, was convicted of first-degree murder and rape by a Butler County jury in 1987 and sentenced to death for killing Jeanine E. Revak, 22, who met Tedford while seeking a job at Finishing Touches, a decorating supply store in Cranberry Township where he worked as the manager.

Revak disappeared Jan. 10, 1986, two weeks after she shared her portfolio with Tedford. Her car was found in an Allegheny County shopping plaza parking lot. The next day, hunters in wooded state game lands in Washington County found her partially clothed body.

Police identified Revak from the engraving on her wedding ring. They identified Tedford as the suspect by matching cat hair found on Revak’s clothes to Tedford’s pet.

Tedford told the jury he was having an affair with Revak, but denied killing her.

Prosecutors said the murder took place at the store.

At the time of the killing, Tedford was on a release from prison, where he was serving a 15-to-30-year sentence after pleading guilty in 1973 to assaulting a Magee-Women's Hospital nurse and her roommate with a baseball bat while he was trying to sexually assault the nurse. Tedford was a model inmate during the first 12 years of his punishment, as a reward, he was given weekend furloughs and permission to work weekdays.

Tedford is currently incarcerated at the state prison in Somerset.

At Thursday’s hearing, Tedford’s attorneys, John Schwab and Bruce Antkowiak, said they have statements saying the murder took place at an unknown location from former assistant district attorney David Hepting, who prosecuted the case, another person involved in the prosecution and deceased state Trooper Bernard Stanek.

Attorney Adam Cogan, who was appointed to represent Tedford in a 2012 post-conviction relief effort, testified remotely that Stanek wrote in a book published in 2020 that contains a “cryptic” reference to Tedford’s case, but doesn’t include Tedford’s name.

He said Stanek’s book, “The Road to Justice: A true story written by the PA State Trooper who investigated the murder of a headless body discovered in Washington PA,” was not written about Tedford’s case, but a different homicide.

Cogan said the reference indicated Tedford took Revak to an unknown location and then raped and killed her. Cogan said the descriptions of events Stanek included in his book seem to refer to Tedford’s case.

“It flipped the case upside down,” Cogan said.

Schwab said Stanek provided his statement in April 2022.

The third statement alleged the jury in Tedford’s trial was not impartial.

Senior Deputy Attorney General William Stoycos said he disagrees with the defense’s interpretation of the statements.

He said Stanek cannot testify, but the woman who made the statement about the tainted jury could have been subpoenaed to testify and her allegation was litigated all the way through the court system to the state Supreme Court.

Citing rulings from two Supreme Court cases this year, Stoycos said newly discovered facts must be proven with admissible evidence. He said the statements are hearsay and not admissible anyway.

In addition, he said the new evidence is being offered beyond the one-year time limit to present new evidence. Tedford’s amended post-conviction relief petition was filed in January 2025.

Kubit ordered the attorneys to submit briefs in support of their arguments in 30 days. He said he will hold another evidentiary hearing sometime after the filings.