Hawaii authorities announced this week that a man recently identified as a suspect in the notorious kidnapping, rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman visiting Hawaii nearly 33 years ago committed suicide before he could be arrested.
Hawaii State Police announced Monday that DNA belonging to 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr. matched DNA evidence found on the body of Dana Ireland, who was killed on Christmas Eve 1991 in the Kapoho area of Hawaii’s Big Island.
But when police returned after conducting a cheek swab test for DNA, they found Lauro dead at his home, about two miles from the fishing trail where Ireland was found badly beaten before dying the next day. Police Chief Ben Moskowitz said: He told reporters at a press conference..
Moszkowicz added that Lauro’s death appears to be a suicide.
“Nearly 33 years after Dana Ireland was abducted, raped and murdered, the Hawaii Police Department remains committed to solving this case and will continue to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” Mozkowicz said.
Prosecutors initially convicted three men for the young tourist’s murder, but one died while serving his sentence and the other two were released years later after it was discovered they had been wrongly convicted, while her real killer walked free.
Police tracked down Lauro earlier this year after DNA taken from a discarded fork he had used for lunch matched DNA recovered from the murder scene.
DNA from several separate samples was used to determine a positive match: semen found on her body and clothing, as well as sweat and skin from her T-shirt, all matched a single individual previously known only as “Unidentified Male No. 1.”
Police said DNA testing provided enough evidence to charge Lauro with rape, but that there was insufficient evidence to charge him with murder because the statute of limitations had expired several years earlier.
“The presence of Ms. Lauro’s DNA at the crime scene is not, in itself, sufficient evidence to prove that he knowingly or knowingly caused her death,” Moskowitz said at a news conference in Hilo.
He committed suicide last week after police visited his home and matched swab samples taken directly from him.
Police are currently examining Lauro’s cell phone to see if there is any additional information that could provide closure to Ireland’s family and friends.
Three men were originally arrested and convicted of Ireland’s murder in 1999.
But last year, one of the defendants, Albert Ian Schweitzer, had his murder conviction overturned after 23 years in prison, and in October 2023, the conviction of his brother, Shawn Schweitzer, who was also charged with murder, was also overturned, thanks to the Innocence Project of Hawaii and New York, which represents the brothers.
The third man convicted, Frank Paulin, died in prison while serving his sentence for the Irish murders. According to Hawaii News Now.
Because Lauro took his own life, the truth of what happened in Ireland may never be known.
This week, lawyers for the Schweitzer brothers accused Hawaii police of deliberately botching their investigation by failing to take steps to prevent Lauro from fleeing or committing suicide after they received his DNA.
“We knew he had a family and lived a happy life,” Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck, who is assisting the Hawaii Innocence Project in the Schweitzer case, said of Lauro.
“We know very well in law enforcement that if you find someone’s DNA and you know that person committed a crime, if you don’t put that person in custody, there’s a good chance they’ll flee, destroy evidence or commit suicide,” he told The Associated Press.
But Moscovici denied that investigators had obstructed the case, saying the court would not have accepted the evidence they subsequently gathered if police had arrested Lauro without probable cause.
“Our focus remains on Dana Ireland, the young woman who was brutally murdered. There is still much we do not know about this case and the investigation remains ongoing. The search for the truth is not over,” Moskovitz said.
Ireland, who was visiting from Virginia, was found dead in brush along a fishing trail in the remote Puna area of the island on December 24, 1991.
She was sexually assaulted and beaten, and died the next day at Hilo Medical Center. The wrecked bike she was riding was found several miles away, apparently having been hit by a car.
With post wire
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are in a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can receive free, confidential crisis counseling by calling 1-888-NYC-WELL. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or Suicide Prevention Lifeline.org.
