Big Island police did not have sufficient evidence to arrest suspect in Dana Ireland murder, police chief says

Hawaii Island Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz said police did not have sufficient probable cause to arrest a new suspect in the 1991 murder of Dana Ireland before he took his own life last week.

The suspect, 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr. of Hawaiian Paradise Park, was recently confirmed to be the source of semen and other DNA taken from Ireland’s body, as well as a T-shirt soaked in Ireland’s blood found near the crime scene.

Ireland, a 23-year-old visitor from Virginia, was hit while riding her bicycle, raped, beaten and left on a fishing trail in Puna on Christmas Eve 1991. She died the next day at Hilo Medical Center.

The DNA evidence identifying Lauro was enough to prove he sexually assaulted Ireland, but the statute of limitations on a rape charge had expired, Moszkowicz said, and police lacked sufficient probable cause to arrest him for murder.

“We believed then and continue to believe that the presence of Lauro’s DNA at the crime scene is not, in and of itself, sufficient to prove that Lauro intentionally or knowingly caused her death,” he said.

Lauro met with investigators at the Hilo police station on July 19 and spoke with them for an hour, Moszkowicz said. Officers took a court-ordered cheek swab from Lauro before letting him go.

Moszkowicz declined to disclose what was discussed at the police station, but said: “Nothing from that conversation provided us with additional evidence that we could have ultimately used to arrest Lauro …

“He gave us some information about what he did or did not remember. At the same time, he did not reveal anything that we believe would raise the threshold for reasonable suspicion.”

Lauro committed suicide on Tuesday, four days after his meeting with police. His body was found in his home. Moszkowicz would not say how he killed himself or if he left a message.

In a motion filed Sunday, attorneys for the Hawaii and New York Innocence Project said police mishandled the investigation by not arresting Lauro the same day they took his cheek swab.

A DNA identification software company, Indago Solutions, tracked down Lauro using samples from the crime scene, public records and other information such as ancestry, age, genetics and address history. For example, DNA analysis showed that the suspect was 80% Filipino and Lauro had three Filipino grandparents. He also lived about two miles from where Ireland was found.

Officers then placed Lauro under surveillance to collect a DNA sample – a sample disposed of in a public place that police can collect without alerting a suspect.

They followed him to a restaurant, where they saw him eating a plated meal before putting his fork in a box and throwing it in the trash, Moszkowicz said. Police collected the fork from the trash and compared the DNA to samples from the crime scene. They matched.

Moszkowicz said that if police had arrested Lauro on July 19 without sufficient suspicion, they would have risked that all evidence gathered after his arrest, including a confession, would not be taken into account in any possible prosecution.

He said police hope Lauro will continue to cooperate after he leaves the station, adding that any future decision to charge Lauro would be made by the prosecution on the basis of the evidence presented by police.

But lawyers for the Innocence Project say the agency had reasonable grounds to arrest Lauro, and that his suicide left investigators with few options for finding out what really happened to Ireland.

Ken Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, said Lauro has a wife, children and grandchildren, and police should have known he was a suicide risk after it was discovered he was a suspect.

Lauro’s Facebook page is almost entirely filled with pictures of him fishing with family and friends and showing off his catches.

According to court records, he had virtually no criminal history. Moszkowicz said he was arrested for shoplifting in 1987 but otherwise had no criminal record.

A message left at Lauro’s home phone number was not answered Monday evening.

Moszkowicz said police have searched Lauro’s cellphone and interviewed other witnesses, including family members and friends. He asked anyone with information about the case to contact the police department.

“We remain committed to solving this case, as we have been since day one,” he said. “Ultimately, it is our responsibility to ensure justice is done for the victim.”

But in their complaint, lawyers for the Innocence Project accuse the department of a conflict of interest because it has previously arrested suspects and later exonerated them. The lawyers represent Albert Ian and Shawn Schweitzer, two brothers who were convicted of Ireland’s murder in 2000 and exonerated last year.

A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Tuesday morning in Hilo District Court, asking the court to order police and prosecutors to turn over all documents and evidence related to the Lauro investigation.

Ian Schweitzer was released from prison on January 24, 2023, after serving 26 years behind bars for Ireland’s murder. His brother Shawn’s conviction was overturned on October 23 of the same year. A third man convicted of Ireland’s murder, Frank Pauline, was killed by another inmate in a New Mexico prison in 2015. His posthumous rehabilitation has been postponed.