A 66-year-old Florida man has been arrested and charged with killing single mother Tanya Denise Jackson, a Gulf War veteran, and her little girl, Tatiana, who were previously believed to be victims of the infamous Long Island Serial Killer.
Andrew Dykes, who lives in Tampa, was arrested on Wednesday, December 3, and is being held on a fugitive warrant in the Sunshine State as he awaits extradition to New York, where sources claim the murders occurred.
Newsday first broke news of the arrest Thursday, December 4.
Sources tell Us Weekly that advanced but unproven DNA science linked Dykes to the double-homicide, and that he’s actually Tatiana’s biological father.
The remains of Jackson — who was 26 years old at the time of her death — and her 2-year-old daughter were only recently identified by investigators handling the Long Island Serial Killer case this spring. For decades, Jackson was known only as “Peaches,” named so for the distinctive peach-shaped tattoo on her chest.
Police had believed the mother and child were victims of the Long Island Serial Killer — who investigators claim is Rex Heuermann, a hulking 62-year-old architect who was 33 years old at the time of her death — because they were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Long Island’s Suffolk County.
Jackson, originally from Mobile, Alabama, disappeared in 1997 while living in Brooklyn and working as a medical assistant. Police believe she was killed shortly before her torso was discovered June 28, 1997, in a plastic container that had been left at Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview.
More of Jackson’s remains wouldn’t be found until 2011 in Gilgo Beach. Located nearby were Tatiana’s skeletal remains, but DNA wouldn’t connect them for another two years.
Heuermann, who was married and has two adult children, was arrested in July 2023 outside his Manhattan office in connection to three of the Gilgo Beach murders. Heuermann has since been charged with the murders of Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20; Megan Waterman, 22; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Sandra Costilla, 28; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
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He has pleaded not guilty to all seven murder charges. Investigators are still trying to connect Heuermann to two other bodies that were found dumped at Gilgo Beach.
Earlier this year, Peacock released a documentary about Heuerman and his family called The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, executive produced by rapper 50 Cent.
Jackson and her daughter were buried earlier this year at Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort near Mobile, according to Newsday.
Two gold bracelets were found with Jackson’s body parts, the paper reported, and a 16-inch gold-colored chain and two gold-colored hoop earrings were found on her daughter’s remains, which were located closer to the other sets of human remains unearthed at Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann is being held at the Riverhead Correctional Facility on Long Island, awaiting trial.
In the wake of his arrest, police spent nearly two weeks combing through his Massapequa home and basement and digging up different parts of the property surrounding the home. It is alleged the basement held a concrete gun vault where Heuermann kept more than 300 guns and violent pornography.