Gilgo Beach Homicide Victim Was Known Only by Tattoo. Now, 'Peaches' and Her Toddler Daughter Have Names

New York authorities have identified the remains of a woman and her two-year-old daughter whose remains were discovered on Long Island’s Gilgo Beach nearly 30 years ago.

Nassau County officials said Tanya Denise Jackson, 26, and her daughter Tatiana Marie Dykes were identified through genetic genealogy testing.

“The reality is our work has just begun,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at a press conference on Wednesday, April 23. “Knowing the identities of the mom and the little baby is just a first step to help us get to solving these murders.”

Some of Jackson’s remains were discovered in a plastic container in Hempstead Lake State Park on June 28, 1997. She came to be known to investigators as “Peaches” because of a peach-shaped tattoo found on her chest.

More of her remains, as well as the remains of her daughter, were found in April 2011, along Ocean Parkway near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach. The remains of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers —have been discovered along the parkway since 2010.

In 2023, architect and father of two Rex Heuermann was arrested in connection with three of the deaths. He has since been charged with murder in relation to seven of the deaths.

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However, authorities are cautioning that the mother and daughter haven’t formally been linked to the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killings, and Heuermann is not currently facing charges in relation to their deaths.

“Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings because the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated from that investigation,” Homicide Det. Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick said at the press conference.

“Speculation and theories by people and on the internet should not be brought into this.”

Jackson served in the U.S. military from July 1993 to February 1995 in Texas, Georgia and Missouri and was living in Brooklyn at the time of her death. She worked at a doctor’s office, possibly as a medical assistant, officials said.

Mother and daughter were linked through DNA analysis in 2015, but their identities remained a mystery. It wasn’t until 2022 that the FBI identified the two victims, though a positive identification wouldn’t come for another two years.

“In 2023 we had a meeting with the FBI where they revealed their information to us and we immediately started traveling to get, gather DNA samples, interview the family, and in early ’24, we positively identified them as Tanya and Tatiana,” Fitzpatrick said.

Officials waited a year to publicize their identities so as to reach out to the family and ensure the remains were properly buried, Fitzpatrick noted. Tanya and Tatiana were laid to rest in Alabama with full military honors.

Authorities said Jackson was never reported missing.  

A $25,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.