>> Christmas Eve 1991: Dana Ireland, a 23-year-old visitor from Virginia, is discovered barely alive in the bushes along a fishing trail in a remote section of Hawaii island’s Puna district. The mangled bicycle she had been riding is found several miles away and appears to have been struck by a vehicle.
>> Christmas Day 1991: Ireland dies of her injuries at Hilo Medical Center.
>> 1994: Following years of public outcry and media scrutiny over who raped and killed Ireland, a man facing charges for his role in a cocaine conspiracy tells investigators that his half brother, Frank Pauline Jr., witnessed Ireland’s attack.
Pauline is in his third month of a 10-year sentence for an unrelated sex assault and theft. He claims that brothers Albert Ian and Shawn Schweitzer attacked and killed Ireland but gives inconsistent versions over seven interrogation sessions.
>> 1997: Pauline and the Schweitzer brothers are indicted for Ireland’s rape, kidnap and murder despite the absence of physical evidence linking them to the crimes.
None of the DNA evidence belonged to any of the suspects, leading to investigators’ theory that a fourth person was involved, known until February 2024 as only “Unknown Male #1.”
>> Oct. 20, 1998: The Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office dismisses all charges against the Schweitzers and Pauline.
>> May 1999: The Schweitzers are reindicted based on new allegations from a jailhouse informant, Michael Ortiz, who claims Ian Schweitzer confessed to him while they were both incarcerated.
>> February 2000: Ian Schweitzer is found guilty of second-degree murder, kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault in the Ireland case. He is sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder, 20 years in prison for kidnapping and 20 years for first-degree sexual assault.
>> 2000: Pauline is tried and convicted. Shawn Schweitzer pleads guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping. He is sentenced to one year in jail with credit for time served and five years of probation. He agrees to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping in exchange for about a year that he had served and five years’ probation.
>> May 2015: While serving time in the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility, Pauline is hit in the head with a rock and killed by a fellow inmate already serving time for first- and second-degree murder.
>> January 2023: Third Circuit Judge Peter K. Kubota vacates Ian Schweitzer’s conviction after finding no evidence to link him and his brother after Schweitzer had served 23 years in prison. He is released at the age of 51.
>> February: Steven Kramer, a retired FBI attorney and federal prosecutor, uses DNA evidence originally found at the Dana Ireland crime scenes to identify Albert Lauro Jr. of Kapoho as “Unknown Male #1.”
Kramer then contacts the FBI’s genetic genealogy team, which confirms the results.
>> This month: An FBI agent from the Honolulu field office and Hawaii County police have Lauro under surveillance when they retrieve a fork from Lauro’s discarded plate lunch and match the DNA sample to DNA evidence found at Ireland’s crime scenes.
>> July 19: Lauro comes in for questioning and undergoes a court-ordered cheek swab that matches his DNA to samples found at the crime scene in 1991.
>> July 23: Lauro kills himself at his home in Kapoho, less than 2 miles from where Ireland was attacked.
>> Monday: Hawaii County police access Lauro’s cellphone and begin questioning his friends and family in the newest phase of the Dana Ireland investigation.
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Sources: Honolulu Star-Advertiser news reports, Hawaii County Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz and the Hawai‘i Innocence Project.
