The identities of a dismembered woman dubbed “Peaches” and her 2-year-old daughter were finally revealed by cops on Wednesday — some 30 years after their remains were found scattered near Gilgo Beach.
The woman was identified as 26-year-old US Army veteran Tanya Denise Jackson, while her little girl was named as Tatiana Marie Dykes, Nassau County police announced at a news conference.
The identities of a dismembered woman dubbed “Peaches” and her 2-year-old daughter were finally revealed by cops on Wednesday as Tanya Denise Jackson and Tatiana Marie Dykes. Dennis A. Clark
One of the first victims to be found in connection to the Gilgo Beach killings was dubbed “Peaches” due to a tattoo of the fruit found on her body. Mobile Police DepartmentThe release of their names comes years after Jackson’s torso was found stuffed into a container in a wooded part of Hempstead Lake State Park in June 1997.
For decades, she was only referred to as “Peaches” due to a tattoo of the fruit found on her body.
The Alabama native had been living in Brooklyn and working as a medical assistant at a doctor’s office around the time she vanished, cops revealed Wednesday.
Her daughter’s remains were uncovered several years later as cops were probing the infamous Gilgo Beach murders.
Their bodies were discovered in two different places but later linked by DNA in 2015, police said. They were positively ID’d using genetic genealogy in early 2024 but authorities withheld their identities for investigative reasons.
The victims’ remains were found at Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview, New York, in 1997. New York State Parks Reserve AmericaThe mother and daughter were long-believed to be linked to the slayings, in which the remains of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — were discovered along an isolated highway not far from Gilgo Beach.
Rex Heuermann was arrested in 2023 over a string of those murders but authorities said Wednesday they believe the mother-daughter case is separate.
“We’re not saying it’s him, but we’re not saying it’s not him,” Nassau Country Homicide Det. Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said. “We are proceeding as if it’s not related.”
Police said they had identified the toddler’s father and that he has been cooperating with the probe. They stopped short, though, of confirming if he was a suspect in the murders.
Authorities are now offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in the mother-daughter case.
“Did you serve with her in the military? Were you a neighbor or a coworker during her time in Brooklyn? Maybe you saw them at a medical appointment where she worked or were her friends,” Fitzpatrick said as he urged people to come forward.
“We want to hear from you.”
Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly vowed to not give up until their killer was identified.
“We will never give up, not on an unsolved homicide, not on Tanya and Tatiana,” she said.
Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is escorted into the courtroom at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Tuesday, April 16, 2025. Newsday“We will follow every lead, we will pull at every thread until we can get justice for this mother and this child.”
Heuermann, for his part, was initially charged in the deaths of three of the victims discovered over the years — including Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman.
While behind bars, he was charged in the deaths of four other women: Valerie Mack in 2000, Jessica Taylor in 2003, Maureen Brainard-Barnes in 2007 and Sandra Costilla in 1993.
The newly identified remains haven’t been linked to Heuermann and the alleged serial killer wasn’t immediately facing additional charges on Wednesday.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who is leading the Heuermann case, declined to comment on the Peaches announcement given the ongoing court case.
“I’m not going to speak on any topics even tangentially related to the Gilgo Beach investigation until our hearings are concluded,” he told Newsday.
Heuermann’s attorney, Michael J. Brown, also declined to comment.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all counts and has maintained his innocence.






