The Hawai’i County Police Department announced yesterday that they had identified the true killer of Dana Ireland. The police said DNA taken from the crime scene 33 years ago was a match to Albert Lauro Jr.
Unfortunately, Lauro will not be appearing in front of a judge because he reportedly committed suicide a few days after he provided investigators with a DNA swab. He was 57.
Dana Ireland, a 23-year-old from Virginia, was visiting Hawai’i for Christmas 1991. On December 24, Dana was cycling in the remote Kapoho area of Hawai‘i’s Big Island when she was attacked.
The police believe the killer hit her with a truck before beating, raping, and murdering her.
Ireland was found still clinging to life but with severe injuries. She died in a nearby hospital the following day from blood loss.
The cops gathered DNA from Ireland’s body along with samples from the sheet used to transport her to a hospital and a T-shirt found at the crime scene. Unfortunately, there was no match for the DNA in the database. The suspect was named “Unknown Male #1.”
Schweitzer brothers wrongly convicted in Dana Ireland murder
Three men were arrested and charged with the murder in 1991. A man named Frank Pauline Jr. came forward, claiming he’d seen brothers Shawn and Ian Schweitzer commit the crime. Pauline was also arrested after he made self-incriminating remarks.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelPauline and Ian Schweitzer were convicted in 2000 and were given lengthy sentences. Shawn Schweitzer took a plea deal, which saw him released after receiving probation and credit for time served.
However, these convictions turned out to be a miscarriage of justice. Schweitzer’s case was taken up by the Innocence Project, leading to a two-decade-long battle to vacate his conviction. He was finally released last year after new evidence came to light. Pauline died in prison.
In the meantime, DNA experts at the California lab Indago Solutions used the samples from 1991 to build up a family tree of the suspected killer. FBI agents working with the Hawai’i police narrowed the suspect down to several names, including Albert Lauro.
Hawai’i police allege DNA states Albert Lauro Jr was guilty of Dana Ireland killing
Investigators placed Lauro under surveillance, and earlier this month, they lifted his DNA from a fork he used and discarded in public. Ten days ago, Lauro willingly provided a DNA swab at a police station, and those results have since come back positive.
The cops did not place Lauro in custody because they only had sufficient evidence to arrest him for rape, but frustratingly, the statute of limitations on rape had passed. The police just didn’t have enough evidence to hold him for murder until the results of the second DNA swab came back.
Lauro seemingly killed himself at his home in the Hawaiian Paradise Park area of the Big Island. The cops confirmed late last night that they believe Lauro is “Unknown Male #1.”
The suspected killer was 25 at the time of the murder. He was a fisherman and lived in the area where Ireland was killed. The cops said he owned a truck that matched tracks found at the crime scene.