Hawaii Island police name suspect in brutal 1991 attack on Dana Ireland
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - 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 suspect was identified Monday as 57-year-old Albert Lauro, Jr.
Authorities also confirmed he killed himself before he could be arrested.
Lauro was a resident of Hawaiian Paradise Park, and would have been 25 at the time of the crime.
The shocking revelation offers hope of closure in a mystery that gripped Hawaii for decades.
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.
She died the next day.
Ireland had been kidnapped, beaten and raped. She died from blood loss.
Special Series from HNN: Who Killed Dana Ireland
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.
The Hawaii Innocence Project, working with law enforcement, sent the DNA samples to the California lab Indago Solutions. Steve Kramer, of Indago Solutions, is credited with identifying the man known as the Golden State Killer — who committed more than a dozen murders.
Ken Lawson, of the Hawaii Innocence Project, said Kramer used forensic genealogy testing in the Ireland case. “He was able to go back to records, back to the 1700s here in Hawaii,” Lawson said.
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 Lauro using a cheek swab. Days later, Lauro 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.
“He didn’t spend a day in jail,” said Lawson.
Three men were arrested and charged for the murder of Ireland in 1999. Albert Ian Schweitzer spent 23 years in prison before his conviction was vacated in January 2023. In October 2023, his brother Shawn Schweitzer had his conviction vacated.
Frank Pauline died in prison while serving time for the Ireland murder.
The Hawaii and New York Innocence Projects represented the Schweitzer brothers.
Lawson said the man responsible for the crime “took the easy way out” after attacking Ireland and allowing others to go to prison instead.
A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the new developments in the case.
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