They met whereas serving within the U.S. Army, a shared army background that prosecutors now say sits on the middle of a decades-old murder tied to the Gilgo Seashore investigation.
Nassau County prosecutors in New York say Andrew Dykes, a former U.S. Army working room technician, murdered fellow service member Tanya Denise Jackson in 1997, dismembered her physique, and discarded her stays on Lengthy Island, a case that later turned intertwined with the Gilgo Seashore investigation after extra stays had been found throughout the 2011 search alongside Ocean Parkway. Authorities say many years of preserved proof, mixed with advances in DNA and forensic family tree, allowed investigators to establish Jackson and her younger daughter in 2023 and hyperlink Dykes to the crime.
Comparable advances in forensic family tree and DNA evaluation have helped investigators nationwide resolve chilly circumstances involving service members and civilians alike, illustrating how long-dormant proof can achieve new significance many years later. Dykes was arrested in Florida earlier this month, waived extradition, and was arraigned in Nassau County Supreme Court docket, the place he faces a cost of second-degree homicide and was ordered held with out bail.
From Army Service to a 1997 Killing
Prosecutors allege Dykes killed Jackson in 1997, dismembered her physique, and took deliberate steps to hide the crime by separating and disposing of her stays in a number of places. Jackson’s torso was found that 12 months in Hempstead Lake State Park in Nassau County, however investigators had been unable to establish her on the time, leaving the case unresolved for many years.
Authorities say Jackson and Dykes met whereas serving within the U.S. Army within the mid-Nineties, the place Dykes was skilled as an working room technician and later labored as an teacher in anatomy and physiology. Prosecutors allege that medical background is important, saying it helps clarify the style wherein Jackson’s physique was dismembered and why investigators consider the crime required specialised information.
Investigators say Jackson later traveled to New York along with her younger daughter, Tatiana, after her relationship with Dykes. Jackson was by no means reported lacking, prosecutors mentioned, an element that severely difficult efforts to establish her and observe her actions after she left army service.
In 2011, throughout the Gilgo Seashore search alongside Ocean Parkway, extra stays linked to Jackson and Tatiana had been found in Suffolk County. Authorities say these discoveries tied the case to the broader Gilgo Seashore investigation however nonetheless didn’t present sufficient data on the time to establish the victims. It was not till advances in DNA expertise, forensic family tree, and army and civilian document evaluation that investigators had been capable of put names to the stays and reconstruct Jackson’s remaining actions.
A Case Constructed Many years Later
Throughout Dykes’ arraignment, prosecutors walked the court docket via what they described as a methodical killing adopted by years of concealment. In accordance with statements made in court docket and filings reviewed by the choose, the case depends on bodily proof preserved from the unique 1997 investigation, contemporaneous police studies, and forensic materials that might not be totally analyzed on the time.
Prosecutors informed the court docket that advances in DNA science, together with forensic family tree, allowed investigators many years later to establish Tanya Denise Jackson and her daughter, Tatiana, and set up a familial hyperlink to Dykes. They argued that the power of that proof, mixed with documentary data and witness data, supported holding Dykes with out bail.
Dykes entered a plea of not responsible. His lawyer requested extra time to evaluate discovery and mentioned the protection intends to problem the reliability and interpretation of the newer DNA methods used within the investigation. The choose scheduled the case for additional proceedings because it strikes towards the pretrial section.
From a Tattoo to a Identify
For years, investigators had little to work with past a particular peach tattoo on Jackson’s physique, a single figuring out mark that led to her being publicly recognized solely as “Peaches.” With no missing-person report, no confirmed identify, and restricted data tying her to New York, the case stalled regardless of early investigative efforts.
Former Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, who stood up the Gilgo Seashore Activity Pressure, mentioned the breakthrough got here from persistence and a willingness to revisit outdated proof utilizing fashionable instruments.
“All they’d was a tattoo, after which they had been capable of establish Tatiana in addition to Tanya Jackson,” Harrison informed Army.com.
Authorities mentioned investigators ultimately positioned Tatiana’s delivery certificates, which listed Dykes as her father, offering a vital documentary hyperlink. That discovery allowed detectives to slender their focus and conduct surveillance in Florida, the place they collected DNA from a discarded cup. Prosecutors say that DNA matched forensic proof preserved from the unique 1997 investigation, serving to investigators formally establish Jackson and hyperlink Dykes to the crime many years later.
The Gilgo Seashore Investigation: A Broader Context
The Gilgo Seashore investigation started in 2010, after the disappearance of a Lengthy Island lady led police to find human stays alongside Ocean Parkway in Suffolk County. Over time, investigators recovered the stays of a number of victims, turning the case into one of the advanced and carefully watched serial-killing investigations within the nation.
For years, progress stalled amid fragmented investigative approaches and unresolved questions on whether or not the circumstances had been related. That shifted in 2022, when Suffolk County officers launched the Gilgo Seashore Activity Pressure, bringing collectively native, state, and federal companies to reexamine proof utilizing fashionable forensic instruments and renewed coordination.
Harrison mentioned the duty pressure’s mandate was to not pressure hyperlinks between circumstances, however to separate them fastidiously and let proof drive conclusions.
That renewed method led to the 2023 arrest of Rex Heuermann in reference to the killings of a number of girls whose stays had been discovered alongside Ocean Parkway. Investigators have since emphasised that the Gilgo Seashore search space contained victims tied to completely different suspects and completely different crimes spanning many years, a distinction they are saying was vital to preserving the integrity of every investigation.
Gilgo Seashore and Separating the Proof
As a result of among the stays had been recovered throughout the Gilgo Seashore search, the Jackson case turned intertwined with one of many nation’s most high-profile serial-killing investigations, although investigators suspected early on that a number of crimes and suspects had been concerned.
Harrison mentioned the Gilgo Seashore Activity Pressure was intentionally structured to keep away from assumptions, focusing as an alternative on forensic precision and evidence-driven distinctions between circumstances.
“Parkway was connected to Rex Heuermann,” Harrison informed Army.com. “This reveals there was an applicable investigation that was executed, they usually used no matter science and expertise to point out these our bodies had been connected to Rex Heuermann, and these different our bodies had been connected to any individual else.”
Harrison mentioned the arrest of Dykes reinforces the credibility of that method, demonstrating that separating circumstances fastidiously strengthened the investigations reasonably than complicating them.
Prosecutors Lay Out the Case
At a information convention saying the arrest, Nassau County District Legal professional Anne Donnelly mentioned investigators decided Jackson was not the sufferer of a serial killer, however of somebody she knew and trusted. “We allege she was the sufferer of a person she beloved, the daddy of her baby,” Donnelly mentioned.
Donnelly mentioned Dykes was married and had kids on the time he met Jackson, a element prosecutors say underscores their perception that Jackson was killed by somebody she trusted.
Donnelly mentioned Dykes’ army background is central to the prosecution’s principle of the case. Prosecutors allege he obtained in depth medical coaching whereas serving within the U.S. Army, together with work as an working room technician and later as an teacher in anatomy and physiology. Investigators say that coaching is important, arguing it helps clarify the style wherein Jackson’s physique was dismembered and why the crime appeared to contain specialised information.
Protection Questions New Forensic Strategies
Dykes’ lawyer mentioned his consumer is presumed harmless and plans to problem the forensic proof offered by prosecutors.
“The expertise used to achieve these conclusions is newer expertise and is topic to scrutiny,” the lawyer mentioned after the arraignment, including that the protection intends to contest how that proof was interpreted and expects the case to proceed to trial.
A Case with Nationwide Implications
Harrison mentioned the Gilgo Seashore Activity Pressure has influenced how chilly circumstances are approached nationwide, notably by encouraging companies to revisit long-stalled investigations utilizing fashionable forensic instruments alongside conventional police work.
“I wish to consider it opened up the eyes for lots of various investigations all through the nation,” Harrison informed Army.com.
He mentioned the progress within the Jackson case reveals households who’ve waited many years that solutions are nonetheless doable, even when circumstances seem unsolvable.
Harrison mentioned the duty pressure’s work demonstrates that point doesn’t should be an impediment to accountability.
Army Service on the Heart of the Case
Each Jackson and Dykes served within the U.S. Army throughout the Nineties and met whereas stationed in Texas, in accordance with prosecutors. After leaving the Army, Dykes additionally served as a state trooper and later labored as a corrections officer, particulars mentioned throughout court docket proceedings. Jackson later traveled to New York along with her daughter, Tatiana. Authorities mentioned she was by no means reported lacking, an element that delayed identification efforts and allowed the case to stay unresolved for many years.
For investigators, the arrest underscores a broader message they are saying applies no matter how a lot time has handed.
“Time doesn’t erase accountability,” Harrison mentioned. “Police work goes to trace you down.”
Story Continues
