Pictured: Dana Ireland, Albert Lauro Jr. 2017 driver’s license photo.
7-29-24 Police Identify Suspect in Dana Ireland Murder Investigation
News Release from Hawai‘i County Police Department, July 29, 2024
The Hawai‘i Police Department announces the identification of a suspect via DNA evidence in the 1991 murder of Dana Ireland. Age 23 at the time of her death, Ireland was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in the Kapoho area of Hawai‘i Island on December 24, 1991. She died the next day at the Hilo Medical Center.
“For 33 years, our Department has been resolute in investigating the Dana Ireland case,” said Hawai‘i Police Department Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz.
As part of the Hawai‘i Police Department’s investigation, several pieces of evidence were recovered, some of which contained DNA evidence. Specifically, DNA was recovered from a swab taken from Ireland’s body, from a sheet used to transport Ireland to the hospital, and from a t-shirt found at the scene. While it was analyzed at the time, there was no match in any DNA database, and the person whose DNA was found at the scene became known as “Unknown Male #1.”
In 2008, the DNA evidence was sent to the Forensic Analytical Crime Lab in California, where it remains today, as part of a cooperative agreement with the Innocence Project.
In the decades since Ireland was murdered, DNA technology has evolved significantly. Additional DNA evidence was collected from the t-shirt and found to match the other samples from the scene. In addition, experts are now able to take data from a DNA sample and build a family tree based on the known DNA from relatives. Earlier this year, an FBI agent from the Honolulu Field Office contacted police investigators with the names of some people who could potentially be identified as “Unknown Male #1.”
One of the names provided was that of 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr., who lived in the Kapoho area at the time of the murder. Based on that information, police investigators surveilled Lauro Jr., attempting to gather further evidence. In early July, they collected a utensil that he had been using after he discarded it. The DNA from the utensil was analyzed and found to be a match to “Unknown Male #1.”
While the DNA at the scene and from the victim certainly established probable cause that “Unknown Male #1” had committed the offense of rape, the statute of limitations for that charge ran out several years prior. The only remaining crime still within the statute of limitations was murder. Based on what the investigators knew at the time, there was not enough information to establish probable cause to arrest Lauro Jr. for murder.
Investigators obtained a court order to obtain a buccal swab from Lauro’s cheek as confirmation that the DNA taken directly from him matched the DNA collected at the crime scene 33 years earlier. On Friday, July 19, Lauro Jr. was asked to come to the station and talk with investigators. The encounter was consensual, and he was not in police custody at the time. After speaking with investigators, Lauro Jr. asked to leave and was allowed to do so after the court-ordered buccal swab was collected. The buccal swab was sent to Forensic Analytical Crime Lab in California along with a request to rush the analysis and return the results as soon as possible. Based on that analysis, the Hawai‘i Police Department can now confirm that the DNA collected at the crime scene matched Lauro Jr., a resident of Hawaiian Paradise Park.
“The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unwarranted search and seizure,” explained Chief Moszkowicz. “In order to obtain a search warrant, investigators would have to have established probable cause for the crime of murder and explained specifically what evidence it was seeking.”
“We remain focused on Dana Ireland, a young woman who was brutally murdered. There is still a lot about this case that we do not know and our investigation into this case continues to push forward. Our search for the truth is not over,” added Chief Moszkowicz.
People with information relative to this investigation should contact Hawai‘i Police Department Area I Criminal Investigation Division Captain Rio Amon-Wilkins at (808) 961-2251 or via email at Rio.Amon-Wilkins@hawaiicounty.gov.
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Using DNA, authorities identify man who brutally killed Dana Ireland in 1991
HNN: … Using DNA technology, authorities have identified a Hawaii Island resident as the man who brutally attacked and killed Dana Ireland on Christmas Eve in 1991.
The shocking revelation (LINK) offers hope of closure in a mystery that gripped Hawaii for decades.
The man’s name is not yet being released, but authorities say he was a resident of Hawaiian Paradise Park. The 57-year old would have been 25 at the time of the crime.
Last week, after law enforcement secured a search warrant for a cheek swab, the man killed himself. He lived within two miles of the fishing trail where Ireland was found, brutally beaten….
DNA collected from seven separate samples were used. Semen found on her body and on her clothes, plus sweat and skin from a Jimmy’z t-shirt were all tested and all pointed to one person….
Through that extensive research, Kramer identified one potential suspect in February and gave the results to the FBI.
An FBI agent and Hawaii County police officers subsequently started surveillance on the man and last month, were able to get a fork that the man used and publicly discarded.
That fork was also sent to the lab for more testing and a match was reported in July.
On July 19, court records said officers, with a search warrant, collected DNA from the man using a cheek swab. Days later, the man was found dead in his home from an apparent suicide.
The next day, the DNA results from the cheek swab confirmed, yet again, it was a match….
read … Using DNA, authorities identify man who brutally killed Dana Ireland in 1991
PDF: 2024-07-28-Motion-Compel-Schweitzer.pdf (d1l18ops95qbzp.cloudfront.net)
‘Grasping at straws’: Prosecutors re-float theory that 4 men played a role in Dana Ireland’s murder
HNN July 30, 2024: … “The only DNA present was from Albert Lauro, Jr.,” said Keith Shigetomi, Shawn Schweitzer’s attorney. Shigetomi added in court, “Ian’s and Shawn’s convictions could no longer stand up to the weight of the overwhelming evidence of innocence. The court believed the science.”
But Shannon Kagawa, a Hawaii County deputy prosecutor, told the court that one theory the office has is that the Schweitzers and a third man, Frank Pauline, might have been in the car that hit Ireland and left her badly injured. Pauline died in prison after being convicted in the case.
“They left Ms. Ireland at the second scene, the Wa’a Wa’a scene to die and that’s when Albert Lauro came across her,” Kagawa said. Prosecutors said Lauro then raped Ireland and left her there to die….
read … ‘Grasping at straws’: Prosecutors re-float theory that 4 men played a role in Dana Ireland’s murder
CB: Authorities Believe They Finally Figured Out Who Murdered Dana Ireland 30 Years Ago. – Then He Killed Himself “Now, the attorneys say, Hawaii County police failed to take him into custody after they collected his DNA, even though they already had probable cause to arrest him.” The DNA collected from the semen on Ireland’s body also indicated the suspect had 80% Filipino ancestry. The man Indago Solutions identified had three Filipino grandparents. Additionally, he would have been in his mid-20s at the time of the killing and was small in stature, meaning it was likely he could have fit into a Jimmy-Z’s T-shirt that was found at the fishing trail covered in Ireland’s blood.
HTH: Police ID suspect in Dana Ireland murder case - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
SA: New suspect identified in 1991 rape, murder of Dana Ireland | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com) -- Court records show that Lauro had nothing more serious on his criminal record than traffic citations and a civil court case involving a bank — but no criminal history of violence.
HNN: After an extensive search, authorities discovered Lauro’s DNA matched samples collected from the scene — semen, skin and sweat. But police say that only proved Lauro likely was the rapist, and they say there wasn’t enough probable cause to arrest him for murder.
CB: Big Island Police Didn't Have Probable Cause To Arrest Suspect For Dana Ireland's Murder, Chief Says -- Lauro killed himself on Tuesday, four days after meeting with police. His body was found at his home. Moszkowicz declined to say how he killed himself or whether he left a note. … Moszkowicz said he was arrested on a shoplifting charge in 1987 but has an otherwise clean criminal record.
HTH: DNA helps solve mystery in 1991 Dana Ireland murder - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
CB: Big Island Police Didn't Have Probable Cause To Arrest Suspect For Dana Ireland's Murder, Chief Says - Honolulu Civil Beat
SA: New suspect kills himself decades after rape, murder of Dana Ireland | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
HNN: Hawaii County Police Chief discusses identification of suspect in Dana Ireland case
AP: Hawaii man killed self after police took DNA sample in Virginia woman's 1991 killing