MINEOLA, N.Y. — A woman and her child whose remains were discovered scattered along an oceanfront highway not far from Long Island’s Gilgo Beach were identified by police Wednesday, nearly three decades after they first went missing.
Police in Nassau County said the mother, previously nicknamed “Peaches” by investigators after a tattoo on her body, had been identified as Tanya Denise Jackson, a U.S. army veteran who was 26 at the time of her death.
Her 2-year-old daughter was identified as Tatiana Marie Dykes, investigators said. Both were living in Brooklyn, where Jackson may have worked as a medical assistant, according to police.
At a briefing Wednesday, law enforcement officials said they had identified the victims of the long-unsolved killing through DNA evidence found at the scene and advanced genetic and genealogy research. They urged anyone who may have known the pair to contact police with information.
“The reality is our work has just begun,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. “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 the Jackson’s remains were discovered on June 28, 1997, stuffed inside a plastic tub in a state park in West Hempstead on Long Island. More remains, and the skeletal remains of the female child, were found off Ocean Parkway in April 2011.
Police have previously said they’ve confirmed the two are related through DNA analysis.
It has long been unclear whether there is any connection between “Peaches” and other women found slain elsewhere on Long Island. Since late 2010, police have been investigating the deaths of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — whose remains were discovered there.
Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architect, has been charged in the deaths of seven women. He has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all counts. His lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.
“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,” said Homicide Det. Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick. “Speculation and theories by people and on the internet should not be brought into this.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office, which is prosecuting Heuermann, said in a statement he is not commenting on “any topics even tangentially involved to the investigation” while a pre-trial hearing plays out.
Police in neighboring Nassau County declined to provide details of Wednesday’s announcement other than to say it would provide an update into the “Peaches” homicide investigation.
The two female victims are among three sets of human remains long associated with the Gilgo Beach case that have not been identified, at least publicly, by authorities.
In September, Long Island officials released more detailed renderings of a victim believed to be of Chinese descent whose remains were found off Ocean Parkway in 2011. The victim died in 2006 or earlier, was likely between ages 17 and 23 and about 5 feet 6 inches (170 centimeters) tall.
Officials for years had identified the victim as male, but said they now believe the person may have presented outwardly as female as they were dressed in women’s clothing.
Heuermann has not been charged in the deaths of three unidentified victims.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
