Investigators say a document naming the child’s father and DNA from a tossed cup helped identify a suspect nearly three decades later.
MINEOLA, N.Y. — A 66-year-old Florida man has been charged in the 1997 killing of Tanya Denise Jackson on Long Island after investigators traced his name from her toddler’s birth certificate and matched his DNA to evidence, prosecutors said Friday.
Authorities say the case matters now because it separates a long-debated homicide from the broader Gilgo Beach killings while giving Jackson her name back and moving a decades-stalled investigation into court. The suspect, Andrew Dykes, a retired Army veteran and former state trooper, was arrested near Tampa this month on a Nassau County warrant. He is charged with second-degree murder in Jackson’s death and remains jailed as New York prosecutors prepare to try the case.
Jackson, 26, was found dismembered in Hempstead Lake State Park on June 28, 1997. For years she was known only as “Peaches,” a nickname taken from a distinctive tattoo. Police later discovered additional remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in 2011, the same year multiple other victims were found in the dunes. Genetic genealogy confirmed in April 2025 that “Peaches” was Jackson, a Gulf War veteran who had been living in Brooklyn, and that the child known as “Baby Doe” was her 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Marie. Investigators then obtained Tatiana’s birth certificate, which listed Dykes as the father. “That’s how they found his name,” retired New York City Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. Prosecutors later collected Dykes’ DNA from a discarded cup in Florida and said it matched evidence recovered from Jackson.
Prosecutors in Nassau County stress the case is not tied to the serial killings attributed to the separate Gilgo Beach investigation. District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said Jackson “was the victim of a man she loved,” not a serial predator. Investigators say Dykes and Jackson met while serving in the Army, had a child together, and remained in contact. Detectives describe the dismemberment as precise and say the killer showed anatomical familiarity. Officials have not charged Dykes in the death of the child, and the manner and location of Tatiana’s killing remain under review. A reward offered this year and renewed public interest after the 2025 identification drove new tips that supported the DNA work and paper trail, police said.
Jackson’s case sat for years as “Peaches,” one of several unidentified women found from the city line to Jones Beach. Records show her torso was discovered in a Rubbermaid-style container with a floral sheet; the tattoo on the left breast showed a peach with a bite mark and the word “Peaches.” In 2011, after new searches along the parkway, police found skeletal fragments that connected to the 1997 remains and also uncovered the remains of the child, long called “Baby Doe.” The separate, much larger Gilgo inquiry later led to arrests in other cases, but detectives maintained that multiple offenders might have used the same remote corridor, complicating the map of victims. The April 2025 identifications, made through advanced DNA and family tree research, narrowed the focus to Jackson’s personal circle.
After learning Dykes’ name from the birth certificate, detectives built timelines of his military postings and later work in Tennessee and Florida. Hillsborough County deputies arrested him at a home in Ruskin on Dec. 3. He appeared before a Florida judge the next day and, court records show, waived extradition. He was transported to Nassau County, where prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment on second-degree murder. Dykes pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Mineola and is being held without bail pending further proceedings. Prosecutors say they will present forensic reports tying the discarded cup DNA to material collected from Jackson’s remains and the container found in 1997.
Outside the courthouse, Jackson’s relatives said they had waited nearly 30 years for a name and an arrest. Advocates for unidentified victims noted that her case kept momentum because of the tattoo and the child’s photograph, created by forensic artists. “It’s not closure, but it’s the start of answers,” a cousin said. Neighbors near Hempstead Lake State Park recalled police flooding the area in 1997 and again in 2011 when the parkway searches intensified. A former soldier who served with Jackson remembered her as “quiet, squared away, and proud of service.” Dykes’ attorney said the defense will challenge the DNA collection and analysis and urged the public to reserve judgment.
As of Friday, Dykes remains in custody in Nassau County. A status conference is scheduled for mid-January in Mineola, where prosecutors say they will set a tentative trial schedule and continue forensic disclosures.
Author note: Last updated December 26, 2025.