Solved cold cases in Hawaii
1 documented case.
Dana Ireland
Dana Ireland, a 23-year-old woman visiting the Big Island of Hawaii from Virginia, was struck while riding a bicycle on a remote road in the Puna district on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1991, then kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and beaten and left along a fishing trail in the Waawaa area, where she was found gravely injured; she died early on Christmas Day at Hilo Medical Center. Three men, Frank Pauline Jr. and brothers Ian and Shawn Schweitzer, were prosecuted and convicted in 1999 and 2000 on the strength of disputed jailhouse and informant testimony, even though DNA evidence had excluded all three; all three convictions were later overturned, with Ian Schweitzer freed in January 2023 after roughly 23 years in prison and Shawn Schweitzer exonerated in October 2023. In 2024, investigative genetic genealogy identified Albert Lauro Jr., a Big Island man who had lived within about two miles of the crime scene, as the source of the unknown male DNA recovered from Ireland and the scene. Confronted by investigators in July 2024, Lauro died by suicide days later, before any arrest.