Police identify 'Peaches' and 'Baby Doe,' 2 victims linked to Gilgo Beach murders
A Jane Doe whose body was found in 1997 and has long been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killing victims was identified on April 23 as 26-year-old Tanya Denise Jackson.
Her dismembered torso was discovered inside a container in a wooded area of Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview, New York, on June 28, 1997, and authorities said her death was days earlier. Because of a tattoo found on her torso, she had long been referred to as "Peaches." Other remains were uncovered in 2011 in Jones Beach State Park near Gilgo Beach.
A toddler whose remains were found on Gilgo Beach was later determined to be her child. The toddler was identified as Tatiana Marie Dykes, 2 years old at the time of her death. She was long referred to as "Baby Doe."
Rex Heuermann, the suspect in several other murders of women whose bodies were also found on Gilgo Beach and surrounding areas, has not been charged in Jackson's or Dykes' deaths.
“Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings because of the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated from that investigation,” Stephen Fitzpatrick with the Nassau County Police Department said.
Authorities said on April 23 that they were still seeking information about what happened to the mother and child. They offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
"We will never give up, not on an unsolved homicide, not on Tanya and Tatiana. We will follow every lead, we will pull at every thread, until we can get justice for this mother and this child," said District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
What we know about Tanya Jackson
Jackson was born Oct. 22, 1970, in Alabama and was 26 at the time of her death. She served "honorably" in the Army from 1993 to 1995 and was living in Brooklyn when she died, Fitzpatrick said. She is believed to have worked in a doctor's office and had a friend or neighbor care for her daughter.
In the container where some of her remains were originally found in 1997, there was also gold jewelry, a red towel and a floral pillowcase, authorities said. She was believed to be between 16 and 30 years old.
DNA analysis showed that the toddler was the child of the unidentified victim in 2015.
Investigators used a process called investigative genetic genealogy to finally discover their identities and then interviewed family members and took DNA samples. A positive identification was made in early 2024, Fitzpatrick said.
Suspect charged in other Gilgo Beach murders
Heuermann, 61, has been charged with seven murders of the victims found on and near Gilgo Beach whose deaths span from the 1990s to 2010. Many of their remains were discovered in 2010 and 2011 on Gilgo Beach, leading investigators to suspect a serial killer was responsible for the deaths. Authorities first arrested him in July 2023 and charged him with three of the deaths.
As the investigation continued, more murders were credited to Heuermann.
He's been charged with the murders of Megan Waterman, 22; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Amber Costello, 27; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Jessica Taylor, 20; Sandra Costilla, 28; and Valerie Mack, 24. Authorities believe several of the women were working as sex workers.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has said that the investigation is ongoing and has expanded beyond just Gilgo Beach.
Five of Heuermann's alleged victims found on Gilgo Beach whose murders were previously charged were discovered on the same side of Ocean Parkway, prosecutors said. Another victim was discovered in North Sea on Long Island. Mack's partial remains were first found in November 2000 in Manorville, New York, about 50 miles away from where more of her remains were found about 11 years later along Ocean Parkway, officials said in court records.