New York police announced on Wednesday that they have identified a woman and baby girl found murdered near Gilgo Beach — where a series of slayings transpired between the 1990s and 2010s.
Nassau County police Detective Sergeant Stephen E. Fitzpatrick said the bodies discovered on the Long Island seafront are Tanya Jackson, 26, and her daughter, Tatiana Dykes. Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran, was known for decades as Jane Doe #3 or Peaches, due to a fruit tattoo she had, according to The New York Times.
Jackson’s body was reportedly dismembered. Initially, her torso was recovered from a container in a wooded area at Hempstead Lake State Park in June 1997. More of her remains were recovered near Gilgo Beach in 2011.
In 2011, Dykes’ body was found wrapped in a blanket on Ocean Parkway in Babylon. The toddler’s body was located near her mother’s remains. In 2015, DNA testing confirmed Dykes was Jackson’s daughter.
Genetic geanaolgy positively identified Dykes and Jackson in 2024, though police withheld their identities until now for investigative reasons, according to the New York Post.
Police said Jackson was living in Brooklyn and working as a medical assistant when she vanished. Jackson’s disappearance was not reported to authorities as her family said it was common not to hear from her due to her military service.
“The pair were found during an extraordinary months-long search effort by police across Long Island that uncovered the remains of ten people. The massive search began in 2010 as police looked for Shannan Gilbert, who had gone missing earlier that year. In December 2010, four other sets of human remains were found on Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County. These four–Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes–were dubbed “The Gilgo Four,” Orthram, the Texas-based forensic genetic genealogy company that helped identify Jackson and her daughter, said in a statement.
Rex Heuermann was arrested in 2023 and is charged with killing the Gilgo Four, along with three other women, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, and Valerie Mack. Fitzpatrick said Jackson and Dykes’ slayings were being investigated with the Gilgo Beach serial murders, but they could be unrelated.
Police said they have located Dykes’ father and he is cooperating with the ongoing investigation. A $25,000 reward is being offered for information in Jackson and Dykes’ case.
* Additional reporting by Leigh Egan
[Feature Photo: Nassau County police]
