A suspect has been arrested in connection with the 1997 killing of “Peaches,” a mother investigators once thought was murdered by the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer.
Andrew Dykes, 66, was arrested near Tampa on a warrant out of Nassau County, New York, and charged with two counts of murder, including that of Tanya Denise Jackson, a source familiar with the investigation told Newsday. He’s being held in the Hillsborough County jail until he can be cleared for extradition.
Jackson’s torso was found stuffed into a container in a wooded part of Hempstead Lake State Park in June 1997. She remained unidentified for years, with authorities referring to her as “Peaches” due her distinct tattoo of the fruit.
The remains of her daughter, dubbed “Baby Doe,” were found a few miles away along Ocean Parkway in Nassau County in 2011, alongside other victims of the Gilgo Beach serial killer.
Nassau County officials finally identified the mother and daughter earlier this year by way of genetic genealogy. Jackson was a U.S. Army veteran, and was 26 when she was killed.
Dykes is also believed to be the father of Jackson’s child, Tatiana Dykes, and his last name is in part how investigators tracked him down, sources told ABC News. He has not been charged in connection with her death.
Rex Heuermann, an architect who lived with his family in Massapequa Park on Long Island was arrested on July 13, 2023 in connection with the Gilgo Beach case and has since been charged with seven murders, including six women whose remains were found near those of “Baby Doe.”
