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"There's No Question She Was Struggling:" Gilgo Investigator on Tanya (Peaches)

  • Writer: Mary Murphy
    Mary Murphy
  • May 9
  • 3 min read

Crime Stoppers Poster Seeking Information about Tanya Jackson's case
Crime Stoppers Poster offering $25,000 for critical information about Tanya Jackson's case.

Tanya Denise Jackson, known for 28 years as dismembered murder victim "Peaches" because of the tattoo on her chest, lived just a short time of her life in Brooklyn, New York.

And Brooklyn is the place where Tanya likely met her killer.


We are learning now the U.S. Army veteran faced difficulties here as a single mother who was estranged from her family in Alabama and her child's father. She used to drive a 1991 black Geo Storm. We already know for a brief time she was working in a doctor's office and a friend may have helped with babysitting. Mother and daughter were recently buried together in Spanish Fort, Alabama--Tanya's home state--at the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery.


Tanya Jackson received military honors when she was buried with her little girl at a U.S. Army cemetery in Spanish Fort, Alabama.
Tanya Jackson received military honors when she was buried with her little girl at a U.S. Army cemetery in Spanish Fort, Alabama.

A senior official with knowledge of the Long Island serial killer investigation said this week about Tanya, "There's no question she was struggling. These stories, they're very sad."


Tanya Denise Jackson was “struggling” during her time in Brooklyn, New York in 1997
Tanya Denise Jackson was “struggling” during her time in Brooklyn, New York in 1997.

But the official would not say if Tanya Jackson turned to other work to help pay her bills. She had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in Texas, after serving in the Persian Gulf War, while pregnant with her baby girl, Tatiana Marie Dykes, in 1995. Tragically, the toddler was found dead in 2011, wrapped in a blanket along Ocean Parkway, during the Gilgo Beach investigation. Some of Tanya's dismembered remains turned up ten miles west in Jones Beach, on the same side of Ocean Parkway. Tanya's torso had been discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997 inside a green rubber container.


Green, rubber bin where Tanya Jackson’s torso was discovered in June 1997.
Green, rubber bin where Tanya Jackson’s torso was discovered in June 1997.

We do know that Gilgo investigators have looked at areas in East New York, Brooklyn, known as The Stroll, in connection with other murder victims. Tanya Rush, a Brooklyn mother of three who was known to walk the streets of Linden Boulevard and New Lots Avenue in East New York, was dismembered by her killer in June 2008. One of her body parts was found in a black suitcase near the westbound entrance to the Southern State Parkway in North Bellmore, Nassau County--about eight miles from the Massapequa Park home of Gilgo defendant, Rex Heuermann, who has pleaded not guilty to seven murders.


Tanya Rush, a Brooklyn mother of 3, was dismembered. Her partial remains were found in a suitcase near the Southern State Parkway.
Tanya Rush, a Brooklyn mother of 3, was dismembered. Her partial remains were found in a suitcase near the Southern State Parkway.

The nude body of Alicia Adams, a 22 year old mother of two, was tossed into the brush of North Conduit Avenue near the eastbound Belt Parkway in June 2013. 13 of her teeth were missing. Adams, too, did sex work since the age of 13 near The Stroll and was last seen near the Imperial Hotel in East New York.


Alicia Adams, a 22 year old mother of two, was tossed into the brush near the Belt Parkway in Queens. 13 of her teeth were missing.
Alicia Adams, a 22 year old mother of two, was tossed into the brush near the Belt Parkway in Queens. 13 of her teeth were missing.

The initial victims discovered in the investigation, known as the Gilgo Four, had advertised their escort services online. But other victims were allegedly solicited on the street.


Some of the dismembered victims were cut with a "hunter's precision," the official noting, "Some of them, you can tell, they're done with an understanding of the anatomy."


The Heuermann case is still in the pre-trial hearing phase, with the defense trying to keep out evidence utilizing nuclear DNA from rootless hairs found on six of the 7 victims.


Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney wants to try the case with all seven victims included. Defense attorney Michael Brown seeks to sever the case into multiple trials.



4 Comments


Guest
May 09

So incredibly sad. Thanks for the story, Mary. What do you think new charges look like? We've heard Ray Tierney say the investigative phase is over in relations to this trial, so we do know no more superseding indictments will come. But lets just say the task force has a positive DNA match for another known - or unknown victim(s), do they wait until this trial is over before moving ahead with more charges? Does the landscape look any different if its a charge in Nassau County or even NYC?

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Guest
May 09
Replying to

There is cooperation between the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force and other jurisdictions outside Suffolk County. Members of the task force who work for the NYS Police are looking at some of the Nassau County unsolved cases where victims were left near highways. At this point, I can't say if Nassau County would move to indict before the first Gilgo trial takes place in Suffolk. But as you mentioned, there probably won't be another superseding indictment before trial. Judge Mazzei is eager to move the case forward, and the pre-trial hearings have begun.

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Louis Hollander
May 09

Heuermann case has been too long. This case has to move along.

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Guest
May 09
Replying to

Hi Louis. I don't think we will see any more superseding indictments. I think the case is moving forward with the 7 current indictments. However, the pre-trial hearings have dragged on and will likely continue through the summer.

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