Authorities have made a development in a cold case previously linked to the Gilgo Beach murders. Andrew Dykes, 66, of Florida, has been arrested on charges in the 1997 murder of a woman known as "Peaches," later identified as Tanya Jackson, a 26-year-old U.S. Army veteran. ABC7NY reported that Dykes was apprehended near Tampa on a warrant issued by Nassau County, New York.
Andrew Dykes has been identified as the father of Jackson’s daughter, 2-year-old Tatiana Marie Dykes, whose remains were discovered 14 years after her mother near the same section of Long Island coastline. According to the New York Post, Dykes was indicted by a grand jury and appeared before a judge in Hillsborough County Court in Florida. He is currently awaiting extradition to New York on a fugitive warrant.
The case, which for years perplexed authorities, encountered a significant breakthrough when Jackson, previously known as Peaches due to a distinctive tattoo, and her daughter, formerly referred to as Baby Doe, were finally identified earlier this year. Jackson’s torso was discovered in June 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park, wrapped inside a container, while her daughter’s remains were found in 2011 near the site of the other Gilgo Beach bodies.
Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect arrested in 2023 and charged in several of the Gilgo Beach murders, has been linked to the deaths of seven women, six of whom were found near the location where Tatiana Dykes was discovered. Officials have stated that Heuermann is not connected to the deaths of Jackson or her daughter. Reports from ABC7NY indicate that Jackson lived in Brooklyn and worked as a medical assistant at the time of her disappearance, and her case appears to be separate from the other Gilgo Beach cases.
