A recent development in a decades-old cold case in Hawaii has shed new light on the killing and sexual assault of a Virginia woman, Dana Ireland, who was visiting the Big Island in 1991. The Hawaii Police Department announced that DNA evidence linked 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr. to Ireland's murder. Lauro, a resident of Hawaiian Paradise Park, took his own life after police obtained a DNA sample from him.
Although the DNA match provided probable cause for rape charges against Lauro, the statute of limitations had expired. Murder charges were still within the statute of limitations, but insufficient evidence prevented authorities from pursuing them. Lauro's suicide further complicated the case, leaving many unanswered questions.
