Chronology of the Dana Ireland murder investigation | Crime and Courts

Dana Ireland was 23 years old and visited the Big Island from Virginia in 1991. However, her trip to the islands was cut short after her body was found in the Wa’a Wa’a Subdivision in Kapoho on Christmas Eve.

According to the police report, she was hit by a car while riding her bike along a fishing trail. Officers found her wrecked bike – and her body – in the bushes just a few miles away. She was barely alive and partially naked.

Officers determined that she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. She died of her injuries on Christmas Day.

It was not until six years later that police arrested Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, his then 16-year-old brother Shawn, and their friend Frank Pauline in connection with Ireland’s death. They were charged with three counts: second-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault.

In 1998, the case was dismissed. DNA tests showed that the Schweitzer brothers had nothing to do with the sexual assault.

The Schweitzer brothers were re-indicted in 1999 based on an informant in prison. They were found guilty the following year.

Ian was sentenced to life in prison on all three charges.

Shawn was scheduled to spend one year in prison for manslaughter and kidnapping, after serving the sentence already served, plus five years probation.

In 2015, Pauline, who was serving a sentence in a New Mexico prison at the time, was killed by an inmate.

In 2019, nearly 19 years after the Schweitzers were convicted, the Hawaii Innocence Project came to the brothers’ aid and called for a reinvestigation.

In 2023, the Hawaii Innocence Project filed a petition for a declaration of innocence and new DNA came into play. A T-shirt from the crime scene and Ireland’s rape kit linked DNA to a new suspect – identified as “Unknown Male Number One.”

For this reason, the Schweitzer brothers were exonerated. At that point, Ian had already spent 25 years in prison.

And in July 2024, investigators were able to find “Unknown Man Number One” and identify him as Lauro Jr.

Investigators obtained DNA from Lauro Jr. through a cheek swab on July 19. Officials said those tests linked Lauro Jr. to the crime scene. But Lauro Jr. was found dead on July 23. The medical examiner said he died by apparent suicide.