FBI Knew Peaches’ Identity 3 Years Ago

It was one of the enduring mysteries in the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation: Who was Jane Doe # 3, also known as 'Peaches" because of a distinctive tattoo on her chest? Who was her little girl, who was also murdered and deposited ten miles away from her mother on Ocean Parkway?

Jane Doe #3 in the Gilgo Beach case has been identified as Tanya Denise Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran.

On Wednesday, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder announced Tanya Denise Jackson, a 26 year old U.S. Army veteran, was the victim whose torso was found in April 1997 in a green container at Hempstead Lake State Park. Jackson was born in Alabama and had spent most of her life in the South. Her extremities were discovered 14 years later in 2011, as police investigators moved east and west on Ocean Parkway in a widening serial killer investigation. Ten sets of remains turned up between December 11, 2010 and April 11, 2011 on Ocean Parkway. Rex Heuermann pleaded not guilty to murdering six of those victims.

Tanya Jackson's little girl was also publicly identified Wednesday: 2 year old Tatiana Marie Dykes. The Nassau County Police Homicide Commander, Stephen Fitzpatrick, said, "We have identified the baby's father; we have spoken to him."

Tatiana Marie Dykes, 2, was identified as the daughter of “Peaches,” whose name is Tanya Denise Jackson.

Yet the authorities in Nassau County hedged on making a connection between the mother and toddler and accused serial killer, Rex Heuermann.

"We're not discounting the possibility their cases are unrelated," Commissioner Ryder said, as he publicized an increased $25,000 reward from Nassau County Crime Stoppers for anyone who provides critical information about the mother and daughter.

Police revealed Tanya had moved to Brooklyn not long before her disappearance and was working in a dentist's office.

Rex Heuermann has emphatically pleaded 'not guilty' to torturing and murdering six women who had their remains found near the South Shore beaches, along with a seventh woman, Sandra Costilla, whose body was discovered in Southampton in 1993.

Nassau County had jurisdiction in the Peaches case, because Tanya Jackson's remains were found in Hempstead and Jones Beach. Tanya's daughter, Tatiana, was discovered in the bramble about 10 miles east in Oak Beach, very close to Valerie Mack, an alleged Heuermann victim.

Tanya Jackson and her daughter were wearing matching, gold jewelry when they were discovered in 2011. Police gave DNA samples to the FBI in 2020. Utilizing genetic genealogy sites, the FBI found a tentative ID for Peaches in 2022. This was followed by an FBI meeting with the newly-created Gilgo Task Force in 2023. Finally, police said in early 2024, they had a solid identification.

The Peaches’ tattoo was a distinctive mark on Tanya Jackson’s left chest region.

Detectives are now eager to trace Tanya Jackson's movements during her brief time in New York City.

They said she had lost touch with her family.

"Tanya's relationship with a lot of people was estranged", Homicide Commander Fitzpatrick revealed.

But mother and daughter are now together in death. A funeral home in Greenport, Long Island donated services to prepare the bodies for burial. Tanya Jackson and her daughter Tatiana were recently buried this last month in the same casket, Tanya receiving full, military honors at her funeral in Alabama.

The toddler daughter of Tanya Jackson was discovered dead ten miles east from her mother’s remains in the Suffolk County section of Ocean Parkway.

Asian Doe, a biological male who was dressed in women’s clothing, is now the last, unidentified murder victim found on Ocean Parkway in 2011.

The office of Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said he would not comment on Wednesday’s development in the middle of critical, DNA pre-trial hearings in the Heuermann case.