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Man Accused of Dismembering Woman Had Surgical Skills
The remains of a woman and her child were found near Gilgo Beach on Long Island. Prosecutors accused Andrew Dykes, the father of the child, who had worked in Army clinics, in the woman’s murder.
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Tanya Jackson began imploring Andrew Dykes to give more time and fatherly attention to Tatiana, prosecutors said.Credit...Philip Marcelo/Associated Press
By Corey Kilgannon and Nate Schweber
Dec. 18, 2025
When investigators found the bodies of a mother and toddler near a serial killer’s Long Island dumping ground in 2011, they began investigating the pair as part of the Gilgo Beach case.
They referred to the mother as Jane Doe No. 3, or “Peaches,” after a tattoo on her torso and for years sought to identify both bodies through DNA and other methods. They finally identified them as Tanya Denise Jackson, 26, and her daughter Tatiana Marie, 2.
The authorities now say the cases do not appear to be linked to the Gilgo killings, in which Rex Heuermann, a local architectural consultant, stands accused. Rather, Long Island prosecutors have accused a Florida man, Andrew Dykes, 66, of killing Ms. Jackson.
On Thursday, at Mr. Dykes’s arraignment on a charge of murdering Ms. Jackson, prosecutors described what they said were his gruesome methods.
They said Mr. Dykes, a surgical assistant in the military, apparently used his expertise to dismember Ms. Jackson’s body and dispose of the remains in separate locations on Long Island to hide their affair from his wife. His job left him with “the experience to dismember,” said Ania Pulaski, an assistant district attorney with Nassau County.
In court on Thursday morning, Mr. Dykes denied the charges.
“Not guilty,” he said in a husky voice, his gray-stubbled head hung low.
Corey Kilgannon is a Times reporter who writes about crime and criminal justice in and around New York City, as well as breaking news and other feature stories.
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