After nearly three decades, a military veteran from Brooklyn and her young daughter were identified today as victims in a case that's been linked to the serial murders at Gilgo Beach. Tanya Denise Jackson, who served in the Army, was 26 when she died. Her dismembered torso was found in 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park, reported NY Daily News. Identified as "Peaches" due to a distinctive tattoo, Jackson was killed days before her body was found on June 28, 1997.
The remains of her 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Marie Dykes, were found years later at Gilgo Beach, long believed to be the dumping ground of a serial killer. Known only as "Baby Doe" until now, the break in the case came through, a DNA analysis that confirmed the child's relationship to Jackson in 2015. As reported by USA Today, the identities were apparently known to authorities for at least a year before being released publicly.
Rex Heuermann, the man charged with multiple killings in the Gilgo Beach area, has not been charged in connection with Jackson and Dykes' deaths. Stephen Fitzpatrick, with the Nassau County Police Department, emphasized, "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." Authorities are continuing their investigation and have announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murder of the mother and daughter, according to USA Today.
Investigators turned to genetic genealogy, which eventually led to the positive identification of Jackson and Dykes. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly declared, "We will never give up, not on an unsolved homicide, not on Tanya and Tatiana." She added, "We will follow every lead. We will pull at every thread until we can get justice for this mother and this child." The investigative journey, shared with the FBI, culminated with familial interviews and DNA samplings, reported by the NY Daily News.
Fitzpatrick mentioned that Jackson had served "honorably" from 1993 to 1995, had a job in a doctor's office, and that a friend or neighbor often took care of her daughter. The investigator touched on the estranged relationships that prevented a missing persons report from being filed, "Tanya's relationship with a lot of people, unfortunately, was estranged," adding that their familial ties were distant, complicating their identification over the years. Both mother and child have since been buried in Alabama with full military honors. Fitzpatrick affirmed the commitment to uncovering the truth, "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," he told the NY Daily News.
