Police identify 'Peaches' homicide victim as Army veteran Tanya Denise Jackson, daughter as Tatiana Marie Dykes
Nassau County Police Det. Cpt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said, "We have not discounted the possibility that their cases are unrelated from [the Gilgo murders] investigation."
More Stories
For the first time in decades, a woman who had only been identified by a peach tattoo found on her dismembered torso found in 1997 has been publicly identified.
Nassau County police said the victim was Tanya Denise Jackson, 26. Jackson was a U.S. Army Veteran and a single mother who lived in Brooklyn at the time of her death, according to investigators.
Police also named her daughter as Tatiana Marie Dykes, 2.
Jackson's torso and several pieces of jewelry were discovered stuffed into a container in a wooded part of Hempstead Lake State Park in June 1997.
In 2011, police found Dykes' remains near Ocean Parkway in Babylon. DNA testing at the time linked the two as mother and daughter.
Despite the timing and location, Nassau County Police Det. Cpt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said, "We have not discounted the possibility that their cases are unrelated from [the Gilgo murders] investigation."
Fitzpatrick replied "I'm not saying it is him. I'm not saying it's not him" when he was asked if there was any potential connection to Rex Heuermann.
In 2020, the Nassau County police partnered with the FBI which used advanced technology to identify the two victims. Police spent the years since traveling the country, particularly the south, to speak with potential family members and take additional DNA samples to confirm the two names.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the department is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the two murders.
