Nassau County police identified the names of Jane Doe No. 3 and her toddler, homicide victims associated with the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation, nearly 28 years after their deaths.
Tanya Denise Jackson and her 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Marie Dykes, were identified by Nassau County officials on Wednesday during a press conference. For the first time, police suggest that these homicides may not be associated with the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation.
“Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings because of the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated to that investigation,” Nassau County Detective Captain Steven Fitzpatrick said.
Jackson was previously known as a Gilgo Beach homicide victim with the names Jane Doe No. 3 and/or “Peaches” because of her tattoo. Her partial remains were found in Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview on June 28, 1997. Jackson, an African American woman, was a 26-year-old U.S. Army veteran and single mother who was living in Brooklyn, New York, according to Fitzpatrick.
Dykes’ remains were discovered in April 2011 along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. She was born on March 17, 1995, in Texas.
In 2015, the victims were linked as mother and daughter through a DNA analysis.
In a joint collaboration with the FBI, Fitzpatrick said Nassau police gave the FBI a DNA sample of the victims in 2020. Around 2022, the FBI was believed to have an identification. The following year, Nassau police met with the FBI, gathered DNA samples, and interviewed the family. By early 2024, they were able to positively identify the two victims.
“The needs of the investigation dictated that we withhold that information until we talk to the family, settle their remains, and put them to rest,” Fitzpatrick said.
Police are asking anyone who knew or worked with Jackson, or who knew her daughter, to contact the authorities anonymously at 1-200-244-8477 or online. They are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
