A Hawaii man who was discovered dead before being arrested is connected by DNA evidence to the horrific 1991 murder of a Virginia woman.
Following the collection of a DNA sample from him by authorities, a man who was named as a fresh potential suspect in the murder and sexual assault of a Virginia woman who was on vacation in Hawaii over thirty years ago committed suicide, according to officials.
On Monday, the Hawaii Police Department announced that they had matched the DNA from the deceased Dana Ireland with that of Albert Lauro Jr., 57, who lived at Hawaiian Paradise Park on the Big Island. Lauro committed suicide, according to Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz, and was discovered at home.
In recent months, authorities were increasingly interested in Lauro and, after observing him have lunch, they collected a DNA sample from him using a discarded fork. Following a police visit to his residence to compare the sample to a swab taken directly from him, he committed suicide last week.
The DNA work marked a significant advancement in a case that garnered media attention in 2017 when Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, who had been imprisoned for the murder for almost 20 years, was freed on the basis of fresh evidence. On Hawaii’s Big Island on Christmas Eve of 1991, Ireland’s body was discovered.
According to HawaiiNewsNow, Lauro lived two miles from the fishing trail where Ireland was discovered having been severely beaten. The following day, she passed away.
Schweitzer was one of three men convicted of her murder, but he never once admitted any wrongdoing. On Tuesday, a judge is scheduled to make a decision regarding a motion to formally clear him.
Although Lauro’s statute of limitations for rape charges has long since passed, the police claimed that the DNA evidence provided them with probable cause to arrest Lauro. Although Ireland’s death is still covered by the statute of limitations for murder, authorities stated they lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute Lauro for the crime.
At a press conference that was broadcast live from Hilo, Moskowicz stated, “The presence of Lauro’s DNA at the crime scene was, in and of itself, not sufficient evidence to prove that Lauro intentionally or knowingly caused her death.”
According to Moskowicz, authorities are hoping that Lauro’s cellphone may provide them some clues as well as assistance from friends and relatives who knew him in 1991 and now in figuring out what happened.
The AP did not receive a response from Lauro’s family.
Attorneys claim cops mishandled the probe.
Schweitzer’s lawyers attacked the police, claiming that by failing to take action to make sure Lauro didn’t run away or commit suicide after they got his DNA, they purposefully ruined the investigation into him. They implied that the truth about what really happened to Ireland will never surface due of the man’s passing. They also wanted access to all correspondence pertaining to the DNA work and a federal inquiry.
“We were aware of his familial ties. Barry Scheck, a co-founder of the Innocence Project who is supporting the Hawaii Innocence Project in Schweitzer’s case, described Lauro as having a “good life.” “It’s well known in law enforcement circles … if you have DNA on a guy and you know he committed the crime, that if you do not bring him into custody, there is a serious chance that the person will flee, destroy evidence or kill themself.”
According to Moskowicz, a court would not have recognized the evidence that the police collected later if they had arrested Lauro without a valid reason.
He disputed the case was tainted by cops.
“That is completely untrue and untrue,” he declared, adding that the police would pursue the evidence no matter where it led.
Mayor Mitch Roth, who oversaw prosecutors on the Big Island when Schweitzer’s lawyers and prosecutors reached a “conviction integrity agreement” to reopen the case, stated on Monday that he supports the police and that the results of the swab they took weren’t received until after Lauro passed away.
When Roth was the prosecutor, Lauro was not on the radar of the police: “I don’t recall ever seeing this person in any of the police reports when I went over the case.”
Lauro was previously arrested in 1987, according to Moskowicz, for shoplifting when he was around 20 years old.
The investigation into who killed Ireland regained momentum following Schweitzer’s release in January 2023. Schweitzer was found guilty in 2000 and given a 130-year jail sentence. Attorneys for the Innocence Project took up his case, claiming that his DNA did not match that of a T-shirt discovered close to Ireland. The clothing was stained with her blood and had DNA from an unidentified guy, but it didn’t belong in Ireland.
Schweitzer was freed, but his defense team and the prosecution haven’t stopped arguing about whether or not he was rightfully imprisoned and should be compensated for his years of incarceration.
With assistance from Steven Kramer, a retired FBI attorney and federal prosecutor who oversaw the genetic genealogy team that solved the Golden State Killer case in 2018, Schweitzer’s Innocence Project attorneys located a DNA match. Based on a number of variables, including age, address history, heritage, and genetics, Kramer was able to find a match.
According to HawaiiNewsNow, Ken Lawson of the Hawaii Innocence Project stated that Kramer was able to access documents dating all the way back to the 1700s in Hawaii.
According to court documents, Lauro would have been in his mid-20s and either owned or had access to a pickup truck that would have left the tire impressions discovered at the site.
“Disappointed in the way it happened”
Attorneys for Innocence Project discovered after viewing his Facebook profile that he continued to be a passionate fisherman and would have been familiar with the route where Ireland was discovered.
Having claimed they had probable grounds to do so, the lawyers demanded on Monday that the federal government look into why Lauro’s arrest was not made. They want in their filing that all correspondence between the police and prosecutors over the decision to forego obtaining an arrest warrant following the analysis of Lauro’s fork’s DNA be turned over. Concerning the DNA swab, they also want to know why he wasn’t detained sooner rather than later.
One of Hawaii’s most notable cases was described in a 2023 petition to free Schweitzer, the last of the three Native Hawaiian men still serving a jail sentence for the murders.
In the bushes by a fishing route in Puna, a secluded area of the island, Ireland, a 23-year-old tourist from Virginia, was discovered barely alive. She had been beaten and sexually assaulted; Hilo Medical Center is where she died. The broken-down bicycle she was riding was discovered a few miles (kilometers) away and seems to have been struck by a car.
Years went by without a solution to the murder.
Frank Pauline Jr., a guy who reported to the police that he saw the attack, said that Ireland was attacked and killed by Schweitzer and his brother, Shawn Schweitzer. However, he was questioned at least seven times and provided conflicting answers each time, finally implicating himself and prompting the prosecution to file charges against both Pauline and the Schweitzers.
In 2000, Pauline and Ian Schweitzer were found guilty. After witnessing juries find Pauline and his brother guilty in 2000, Shawn Schweitzer struck a bargain to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping in exchange for credit for roughly a year served and five years of probation.
According to HawaiiNewsNow, Pauline passed away in jail while completing her sentence for the murder in Ireland. According to HawaiiNewsNow, the attorneys were awaiting an authentic copy of Pauline’s death certificate, which caused a delay in Pauline’s posthumous exoneration earlier this year.
Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, stated that the Schweitzer brothers “are happy that this person was finally caught.” “They’re disappointed in the way it happened.“
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