Forever 16 | Chapter 9

After decades of secrecy, the truth is finally on trial. In a stunning turn, Judge Kubota orders the release of long-hidden evidence, shaking the very foundation of the case against Ian and Shawn Schweitzer. But as the Hawai’i Innocence Project prepares to expose the full scope of this wrongful conviction, the prosecution fights back—taking their battle to the state’s highest court in a desperate attempt to keep the past buried.Will the pursuit of justice finally bring accountability, or will the system protect itself at all costs?The stakes have never been higher.__Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. To buy Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning, click HERE. Click HERE to view Dr. Saul Kassin's study on how judges respond to confession errors. This study is also referenced in Dr. Kassin’s book, DUPED.If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip. 

The fight for justice takes a shocking turn. As Ian and Shawn Schweitzer return to court, the prosecution refuses to acknowledge the truth—even in the face of undeniable DNA evidence. Instead, they introduce a new, twisted theory, one that defies logic and stretches the bounds of credibility.Then, a bombshell: the walls of deception begin to crack, but will it be enough?Truth is closing in. But so is time.Click HERE to listen to Amanda Knox’s interview with Dr. Richard Leo on her podcast False Confessions. And click HERE to view the National Institute of Justice’s report, “The Impact of False or Misleading Forensic Evidence on Wrongful Convictions”.__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-9-factual-innocence/ Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected].  

A DNA match. A suspect identified. A chance for long-overdue justice. But instead of an arrest, the investigation takes a shocking turn.With Hawai’i PD refusing to act, and prosecutors refusing to acknowledge the full weight of the evidence, the truth hangs in limbo. The system that once rushed to convict Ian and Shawn Schweitzer now drags its feet when faced with the real perpetrator. And then—before any charges can be filed—the suspect takes his secrets to the grave.What happens next will determine whether justice is finally served… or buried along with him.__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-8-probable-cause/Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.

For decades, Dana’s killer remained a ghost. Until now.With a new weapon in their arsenal—cutting-edge forensic genealogy—investigators uncover a truth that had been buried in plain sight. In just 19 days, they identified a man who was never on law enforcement’s radar. A man who lived just miles from the crime scene. A man who walked free while innocent lives were destroyed.__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-7-hiding-in-plain-sight/Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.

The DNA never lied. It never pointed to Ian, Shawn, or Frank—but to someone else entirely. As forensic experts unravel the evidence that put three innocent men behind bars, the case against them crumbles. The DNA, the tire tracks, the so-called bite marks—junk science and misplaced certainty stole decades of their lives. But if they didn’t do it…who did?__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-6-unknown-male-1Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.

A guilty verdict. A plea deal. A family shattered. Ian Schweitzer is sentenced to life, and his brother Shawn faces an impossible choice—fight for the truth or admit to a crime he didn’t commit. But with missing evidence and a system eager to close the case, the truth remains just out of reach. What if justice was never the goal?__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-5-inconclusive/Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. 

By 1996, because of pressure from Dana Ireland’s family and the media and the want to close this case for good, the police decided to send the case to prosecutors—despite DNA evidence excluding Ian and Shawn Schweitzer, as well as Frank Pauline Jr. But as the public scrutiny grows, so do the lies. Frank, hoping for leniency, spins a series of contradictory stories to the police and the press—before ultimately recanting on live TV and accusing the police of coercing his confession. In Chapter 4, Amanda Knox, drawing from her own experience, exposes how flawed science, false testimony, and prosecutorial egos can turn a weak case into a nightmare conviction.__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-4-the-prison-priestPlease consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.

In Chapter 3, Amanda Knox takes you to Hawai’i’s Big Island to speak with Ian and Shawn Schweitzer and members of their legal team to understand how a confession, driven by deals and deception, could lead to their arrests. Despite a lack of forensic evidence, Ken Lawson of the Hawai’i Innocence Project helps break down how police tunnel vision and media pressure led to the brothers’ wrongful imprisonment and the battle to clear their names.__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-3-family-feudPlease consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.

In a place where everyone knows everyone, during the early days of the investigation, police have no shortage of tips. Soon they turn their attention to three potential suspects: Frank Nasario, Anthony Torres and Roy Santos…but only a few months later, any hope that this case would be open and shut is dashed; none of the men’s DNA matches what was found on Dana Ireland or at the scene. Then, just when the Hawai'i Police Department think they have no other leads to explore, they conveniently get a phone call implicating who this man says are the real people who killed Dana Ireland.__You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/chapter-2-the-aftermath/Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.

On Christmas Eve in 1991, Dana Ireland is found tucked away in a secluded, hard to get to area of the Hawaiian subdivision, Vacationland barely clinging to life. When she finally arrives at a Hilo hospital, the damage is too severe and they declare Dana dead at 12:25am on Christmas morning. In 2023, the audiochuck team set out to tell you the story of what happened to Dana Ireland and how three men were convicted of her murder. Then in 2024, everything changed. In Chapter 1, Amanda Knox takes you through everything that happened on December 24th, 1991 and why this story is very different from the one we were originally going to tell you.  __You can view the materials referenced in this episode at https://threepodcast.com/s2-episode-1/Please consider donating to Ian’s GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ian-schweitzer-after-wrongful-conviction.  You can visit www.hawaiiinnocenceproject.org and click the donate button to support them, their work and their clients. Amanda Knox’s new memoir, Free: My Search for Meaning is available at www.amandaknox.com. If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Dana Ireland, we encourage you to contact the Hawai’i Innocence Project at [email protected]. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 and the Hawai’i Police Department at (808) 961-2380 or visit their website Hawaiipolice.gov to submit a tip.