Hawaii man committed suicide after police took DNA sample from Virginia woman in 1991, lawyers say

HONOLULU (AP) — A man identified as a new possible suspect in the killing and sexual assault of a Virginia woman who was in Hawaii more than 30 years ago recently killed himself after police took a DNA swab from him, lawyers claim in court documents.

Hawaii police said Monday that DNA from Dana Ireland’s body matched that of 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr. of Hawaiian Paradise Park on Hawaii island, but they did not say he committed suicide. Attempts by the AP to reach his relatives were unsuccessful.

Authorities have been targeting Lauro for the past few months, collecting a DNA sample from him using a discarded fork. He committed suicide last week after police went to his home to compare the sample to a swab taken from him in person, lawyers for the Innocence Project say in court documents filed Sunday.

The DNA analysis represented an important advance in a case that Headlines last year when Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, who had served more than 20 years in prison for the murder, was released on new evidence. Ireland’s body was found on Hawaii’s Big Island on Christmas Eve 1991.

Schweitzer was one of three men behind bars for her murder, but he has always maintained his innocence. A judge is expected to rule on a motion to officially exonerate him on Tuesday.

Schweitzer’s lawyers took police to task on Monday, claiming they deliberately botched the investigation into Lauro by failing to take steps to ensure he did not flee or commit suicide after receiving his DNA. They said the truth about what happened in Ireland will never be known because of the man’s death. They also called for a federal investigation and the release of all communications related to the DNA work.

“We knew he had a family. He had a good life,” Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, who is assisting the Hawaii Innocence Project in Schweitzer’s case, said Monday of the man who took his own life last week. “It’s well known in law enforcement circles … if you have DNA on someone and you know they committed the crime, there’s a real risk that the person will flee, destroy evidence or commit suicide if you don’t arrest them.”

Denise Laitinen, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Police Department, declined to provide immediate comment but said the department would hold a news conference later Monday.

Mayor Mitch Roth, who was the Big Island’s top prosecutor when Schweitzer’s lawyers and prosecutors reached a “conviction integrity agreement” to reopen the case, said Monday he stands behind police, noting that the results of the swab they conducted were not available until after Lauro’s death.

Police said in a news release that DNA evidence provided sufficient evidence to charge Lauro with rape, but the statute of limitations for such charges expired years ago. Murder is still within the statute of limitations for Ireland’s death, but police said they did not have enough evidence to charge Lauro with murder.

Lauro was not on law enforcement’s radar when Roth was prosecutor: “I don’t remember ever seeing this person in any of the police reports as I went through the case.”

The pressure to find out who killed Ireland gained renewed momentum after Schweitzer was released in January 2023. He was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 130 years in prison. The Innocence Project lawyers who took on his case argued that his DNA did not match that on a T-shirt found near Ireland. The shirt did not belong to Ireland, but was soaked with her blood and contained the DNA of an unknown man.

Although Schweitzer was released, his lawyers and prosecutors continue to argue about whether he is actually innocent and deserves compensation for the years he spent behind bars.

Schweitzer’s Innocence Project lawyers tracked down a DNA match with the help of Steven Kramer, a retired FBI attorney and federal prosecutor who led the genetic genealogy team that solved the Golden State Killer case in 2018. Kramer found a match based on genetics, ancestry, age and address history, among other factors.

Lauro lived less than two miles from where Ireland’s body was found along a fishing trail in a remote part of the Big Island, according to the latest court filing. He would have been in his mid-20s at the time and would have owned or had access to a pickup truck that would have left the tire tracks found at the crime scene.

Attorneys for the Innocence Project searched his Facebook page and found that he was still an avid fisherman and would have been familiar with the trail on which Ireland was found.

On Monday, the lawyers called for a federal investigation to determine why police did not arrest Lauro despite having reasonable suspicion. In their motion, they are asking that police and prosecutors release all communications about the decision not to seek an arrest warrant after DNA from Lauro’s fork was tested. They also want to know why he was not arrested before or after police swabbed his DNA.

A 2023 petition calling for the release of Schweitzer, the last of three Native Hawaiians to remain in prison for the murder, detailed the case, one of Hawaii’s most notorious.

Ireland, a 23-year-old visitor from Virginia, was found barely alive in the bushes next to a fishing trail in Puna, a remote part of the island. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten and later died at Hilo Medical Center. The wrecked bicycle she was riding was found several miles away and appeared to have been hit by a car.

The murder remained unsolved for years.

A man named Frank Pauline Jr., who claimed to have witnessed the attack, told police that Schweitzer and his brother Shawn Schweitzer attacked and killed Ireland. However, he was interviewed at least seven times and gave contradictory statements each time, ultimately incriminating himself, leading prosecutors to charge both Pauline and the Schweitzers.

Pauline and Ian Schweitzer were convicted in 2000. Shawn Schweitzer took a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping—receiving about a year of credit for time served and five years of probation—after a jury convicted Pauline and his brother in 2000. Pauline died in prison.

The Schweitzer brothers “are glad that this man has finally been caught,” said Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project. “They are disappointed in the way it happened.”