Suspect Takes Own Life Right After Sharing His DNA in Connection with 1991 Hawaii Murder Case: Police
A man from Hawaii reportedly killed himself after he became aware that he was a possible suspect in a 1991 killing, police shared. 57-year-old, Albert Lauro Jr., allegedly committed suicide after police took a swab from him for a DNA match, Fox News reported.
Lauro Jr. had been connected to the death of Dana Ireland, ABC News reported. Ireland was a 23-year-old woman who had been kidnapped and raped in the Kapoho area of Hawaii Island on December 24, 1991, as per police. She succumbed to her injuries, a day later, in the hospital.
"This case is still under investigation. Albert Lauro Jr. has been linked to the victim by DNA; however, his exact involvement is still under investigation. His death was ruled a suicide by the forensic pathologist," Hawaii Police Department Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins shared, ABC News reported.
Authorities took DNA evidence from a swab taken from Ireland's body, from a sheet used to transport her to the hospital, and from a t-shirt found at the scene, ABC News reported. In 2008 the samples were sent to the Forensic Analytical Crime Lab in California.
In 2024, an FBI agent from the Honolulu Field Office contacted investigators and gave them a list of people who could be a potential match for the DNA, ABC News reported. The list included Lauro Jr. who lived in the Kapoho area at the time of the murder.
For DNA testing, Hawaii Police followed Lauro Jr. and collected a fork he had discarded after eating lunch, ABC News reported. The sample from the utensil matched the evidence found at the crime scene.
The evidence established the probable cause of the crime to be rape. However, as the statute of limitations associated with the crime had run out, the investigators decided to focus on the case as a homicide. As a homicide case, investigators did not have enough proof to arrest Lauro Jr., according to Hawaii PD.
"The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unwarranted search and seizure," Hawaii Police Department Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz said in a statement, ABC News reported. "In order to obtain a search warrant, investigators would have to have established probable cause for the crime of murder and explained specifically what evidence it was seeking."
Officials obtained a court order to get a cheek swab from Lauro Jr., ABC News reported. They asked the suspect to come into the station and questioned him regarding the case. After taking the swab, authorities allowed him to leave the premises. The sample from the swab also matched the evidence found at the crime scene.
"We remain focused on Dana Ireland, a young woman who was brutally murdered. There is still a lot about this case that we do not know and our investigation into this case continues to push forward. Our search for the truth is not over," Moszkowicz said, ABC News reported.
A man named Albert "Ian" Schweitzer, and two others had been incarcerated previously for Ireland's rape and murder, Fox News reported. Albert Schweitzer had been behind bars for almost two decades and was released last year because of new evidence. A motion has been filed in the court to exonerate him from the crime.
Frank Pauline Jr. came forward to the authorities and claimed that he had seen Albert Schweitzer and his brother, Shawn Schweitzer kill Ireland, Fox News reported. Pauline Jr. ended up incriminating himself in the case when he kept changing his statement regarding the incident in front of the investigators.
Pauline Jr. and Albert Schweitzer were convicted of murder, while Shawn Schweitzer took a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping, and receive credit for about a year served and five years of probation, Fox News reported.
Albert Schweitzer had been convicted of murder in 2000, and sentenced to 130 years in prison, Fox News reported. Innocence Project lawyers took up his case and argued that his DNA sample did not match with the evidence on a T-shirt found near Ireland.
Albert Schweitzer's attorneys criticized police for how they handled Lauro Jr.'s situation, Fox News reported. "We knew that 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 of Lauro. "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."