Authorities have identified the cold case murder victim known as Peaches nearly three decades after her partial remains were discovered, and her daughter, whose body was found 13 years ago.
The mother was identified as 26-year-old Tanya Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran who was believed to be working as a medical assistant and living in Brooklyn and drove a 1991 black Geo Storm before her death, officials said. The daughter, who was believed to be about 2 years old at the time, was identified as Tatiana Dykes, authorities added. But despite their remains being found in the brush off Ocean Parkway near the same area where alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer victims were found, there is no evidence that suspect Rex Heuermann was involved, according to investigators.
“Solving aging cases like these are extraordinarily challenging … but we will never give up,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly told reporters during a news conference at police headquarters in Mineola.
Peaches’s torso was found inside a container in the woods next to McDonald Pond at Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997 by a conservation officer during a fishing derby. A photo of her tattoo – a bitten peach – was released to the public to help authorities identify her.
In December of 2010, police discovered four sets of remains on Gilgo Beach while searching for Shannan Gilbert, who had gone missing earlier that year. These four – Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes – were dubbed “the Gilgo Four,” and suspected to be victims of a serial killer.
Police resumed their search along Ocean Parkway in the spring of 2011, and found six more sets of remains; an unidentified Asian biological male dubbed “Asian Doe,” Karen Vergata, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Jane Doe 3 and Baby Doe.
Related: Unidentified Murder Victim Dubbed ‘Peaches’ Linked to Gilgo Beach Killings
In 2016, the Press exclusively reported that Peaches and Jane Doe 3 were the same individual. The revelation was sparked by the work of filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Rachel Mills, who produced A&E’s The Killing Season investigating the Gilgo case and other cold case murders, as well as the work of Websleuths.
In 2020, the FBI was tapped to use genetic genealogy to help identify the victim formerly known as Peaches and her daughter.
Related: How Websleuths & Filmmakers Sparked A Revelation In Gilgo Murders Case
In 2022, the Mobile Police Department in Alabama released Peaches’s tattoo on its Facebook page, seeking relatives of an Elijah “Lige” Howell, who died in 1964 and whose relatives may have been able to assist in identifying Peaches. Howell had multiple siblings but no known children at the time of his death.
FBI agents and Nassau detectives ultimately tracked down the victim’s estranged family, interviewed them and confirmed her identity using DNA, officials said. A funeral was held about a month ago.
Related: Is The FBI Close to Identifying The Murder Victim Known as Peaches?
Rex Heuermann of Massapequa Park was arrested in 2023 and charged with the murders of Costello, Waterman, and Barthelemy. In 2024, he was charged with the murders of Taylor, Mack, Brainard-Barnes, and Sandra Costilla, a former cold case murder victim who was found dead in North Sea in 1993.
Heuermann’s attorney declined to comment during an uneventful Suffolk County court conference on the case. He is due back in court June 17 for the next update in an ongoing hearing to determine if the court should allow the use of advanced DNA technology prosecutors used to make their case.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney referred questions on the Peaches development to Nassau authorities.
Nassau County police homicide squad detectives ask anyone with information about this case to call them at 1-800-244-TIPS.
Related: Who is the Girl with the Peach Tattoo?
For more Long Island Serial Killer coverage, visit longislandpress.com/tag/long-island-serial-killer
