After 33 years, Dana Ireland’s brutal slaying on the Big Island remains a crushing heartbreak for those touched by the tragedy and a disgraceful failure of the county’s law enforcement.

The 23-year-old visitor from Virginia was enjoying a peaceful bicycle ride along the Puna Coast the day before Christmas when she was run down by a vehicle, possibly deliberately, leaving her tiny body broken and bloodied and her bike mangled beyond recognition.

She was then raped and left to die in a thorn bush along a fishing trail. Though her condition was dire when she was discovered, she might have survived if police dispatchers hadn’t been slow to send an ambulance, with bad directions, and if rescuers hadn’t wasted time arguing whether to risk their vehicles on the rough rural road.

Public pressure mounted as authorities struggled to solve the case, one of several they were accused of bungling at the time. Nearly eight years later, in 1999, charges were brought against three men who lived in the district — Frank Pauline and brothers Ian and Shawn Schweitzer — in a case considered highly circumstantial.

Pauline and Ian Schweitzer were convicted at trial, with Pauline killed in prison and Ian Schweitzer imprisoned until his release in 2023 after DNA analysis by the Hawaii Innocence Project excluded the three from evidence found on Ireland.

Shawn Schweitzer pleaded guilty for a reduced sentence of time served, and his conviction was also overturned in 2023.

Further DNA work by the Innocence Project recently identified a 100% match in nearby resident and avid shoreline fisherman Albert Lauro Jr. Police interviewed Lauro but didn’t arrest him. He committed suicide shortly after, leaving Innocence Project attorneys furious about improper procedures.

Hawaii County attorneys and police are waging an ugly court fight to avoid releasing the tape of the Lauro interview and other evidence. They’re also opposing the Schweitzers’ efforts to be formally declared innocent, claiming they might have been in the vehicle that killed Ireland — an argument that wouldn’t stand in court given new evidence.

These events should cause anybody touched by the case to reflect, as I sure have.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin published a multipart series I helped edit in 1991 detailing Ireland’s murder and previewing the trials. We plainly described the horror she’d endured, but also tried to be diligent about not unfairly prejudging defendants.

I wrote about the emotional impact of repeatedly reading the stories while editing and told readers, “You’ll weep for Dana Ireland. You’ll mourn the hollow lives of the family she left behind. But you’ll also celebrate the joy and energy with which Dana Marie Ireland graced this Earth for 23 years.”

I also emphasized, as did the series, “The cases against (the Schweitzers and Pauline) hardly seem open and shut.”

I believe we handled it right with the information we had, but with what we’ve learned since, I’ll always wonder.

Hawaii County must join the reflection and stop arguing the ridiculous and defending the indefensible. Come clean on the investigation, release the Lauro interview and stop casting guilt on the Schweitzers unless a case can be proved in court.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.