A suspect in the murder case involving Peaches has been taken into custody in Florida, as reported. The victim was previously thought to have ties to the Gilgo Beach murder victim and was the mother of a 2-year-old girl, whose remains were also discovered in the area.
Andrew Dykes, 66, was apprehended near Tampa on Wednesday pursuant to a warrant from Nassau County, New York, connected to a murder from 1997. This news follows the recent identification of “Peaches” as 26-year-old Tanya Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran, according to law enforcement officials.
Dykes is the biological father of 2-year-old Tatiana Marie Dykes, whose remains were scattered and found years later, far from where her mother was located.
He has been indicted on murder charges by a grand jury and appeared in Hillsborough County Court in Florida for the first time on Thursday.
Currently, he is waiting to be extradited back to New York under a fugitive warrant.
The torso of Jackson was uncovered in June 1997, hidden inside a container within a wooded area at Hempstead Lake State Park. For many years, she was known simply as “Peach” because of the fruit tattoos that adorned her body.
The remains of her daughter, previously referred to as “Baby Doe,” were found in 2011 among other bodies discovered during the investigations related to the notorious Gilgo Beach murders.
This year, Nassau County officials managed to identify both the mother and daughter.
Investigators noted that Jackson, originally from Alabama, was residing in Brooklyn and working as a medical assistant at a doctor’s office when she disappeared.
Meanwhile, Rex Heuerman, the alleged Gilgo Beach killer, faces charges for seven murders, including those of six women whose bodies were located near where Tatiana Dykes was found. However, authorities believe that the case of the mother and daughter might be an unrelated incident.
