An Army veteran single mother from Brooklyn was publicly identified Wednesday as the homicide victim whose dismembered body was discovered nearly 30 years ago in a Long Island park — in a case linked with the Gilgo Beach murders because of where her remains were found.
Investigators revealed the name of Tanya Denise Jackson, 26, along with the name of her 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Marie Dykes, whose remains were found years later along a stretch of Gilgo Beach long associated with the work of an alleged serial killer.
Jackson’s dismembered torso was found inside a Rubbermaid container in a wooded area of Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview on June 28, 1997, and authorities said she was killed several days earlier.
Investigators referred to her as “Peaches” because of a tattoo of peaches on her torso. More of her remains were uncovered in 2011 in Jones Beach State Park near Gilgo Beach.
The toddler was later determined to be Jackson’s child. Until she was publicly identified Wednesday, investigators had called her “Baby Doe.”
“We will never give up, not on an unsolved homicide, not on Tanya and Tatiana,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. ”We will follow every lead. We will pull at every thread until we can get justice for this mother and this child.”
Authorities offered a $25,000 reward Wednesday for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Accused serial killer Rex Heuermann, who has been charged with murdering several women whose bodies were also found on Gilgo Beach and in surrounding areas, has not been charged in the deaths of Jackson or her daughter.
“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,” said Stephen Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department’s homicide squad.
Authorities said they have known the identities for at least a year, but withheld them as part of their probes. Investigators said they are sharing the information now in the hope that the names and pictures of the victims lead to more information.
Donnelly said investigators got a breakthrough after sharing evidence with the FBI. DNA analysis in 2015 showed that the little girl was the child of the then-unidentified woman.
Investigators used a process called investigative genetic genealogy to finally discover the identities of the mother and child and then interviewed family members and took DNA samples, officials said. A positive identification was made in early 2024, Fitzpatrick said.
Officials said Jackson was born Oct. 22, 1970, in Alabama. She served “honorably” in the Army from 1993 to 1995 and was living on 54th St. in Sunset Park, 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, he said. She drove a 1991 Geo Storm.
In the container where some of her remains were originally found, gold jewelry, a red towel and a floral pillowcase were also recovered, authorities said.
Fitzpatrick said investigators have been in touch with the toddler’s father and that he was never a person of interest in the case.
“We have spoken to him and he’s been cooperative,” Fitzpatrick said.
The father did not report them missing.
“Tanya’s relationship with a lot of people, unfortunately, was estranged,” Fitzpatrick explained. “Even her family she was estranged from. So there was a long time when she wasn’t reported missing by people. She was traveling with the military and such. So that made it possible for that to happen.”
He said Jackson and her daughter had been laid to rest in Alabama with full military honors.
“We never gave up on striving for justice for either Tanya or Tatiana, and we will not, but we know there’s more work to be done,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re determined to find the reasons and circumstances that led to their untimely deaths.”
Originally Published: April 23, 2025 at 1:32 PM EDT
