The suspect in the 1997 killing of a woman and her young daughter whose bodies were found near Gilgo Beach appeared before a judge in Mineola on Thursday morning.
Andrew Dykes, 66, of Florida, pleaded not guilty to the killing of Tanya Denise Jackson, 26. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said prosecutors do not yet have enough evidence to charge Dykes in the death of Jackson’s daughter.
“Tanya was the victim of a horrifying and vile act of violence by a person, maybe the only person, she thought she could trust,” Donnelly said.
Authorities arrested Dykes last week at his home and extradited him to Nassau County on Wednesday. He is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 16.
Investigators say Jackson was not a serial killer victim
Investigators said DNA evidence found on Jackson’s body matched Dykes’ DNA. They said they obtained the sample from a straw he threw away in the trash in Tampa.
“Tanya Jackson, known from the time of her death until earlier this year as ‘Peaches,’ was not the victim of a serial killer. We allege she was the victim of a man that she loved,” Donnelly said.
Defense attorney Joseph Lo Piccolo challenged the evidence, saying the technology used to link Dykes to the case is relatively new and open to scrutiny under New York state law.
“The technology used to reach a conclusion that he may be involved in this case, I believe, is the newer technology and it’s very subject to scrutiny and challenge of New York state,” Lo Piccolo said.
“With the proper experts and witnesses, it is defensible and we will be pursing it 100%,” he added.
Dykes, a retired Army veteran, is being held without bail.
“He’s a father. He led a life that many would respect in law enforcement, in the military,” Lo Piccolo said.
The disappearance of Tanya Jackson
Jackson was also a military veteran and shared a child, Tatiana Marie Jackson, with Dykes. Prosecutors said Dykes was married to another woman at the time, but he was listed as the child’s father on the birth certificate.
Prosecutors alleged that Dykes had served as a military instructor specializing in anatomy, giving him knowledge of how to dismember a body. Jackson’s decapitated torso was found in 1997 at Hempstead Lake Park. Investigators said the only identifiable mark was a peach tattoo, which led them to nickname her “Peaches.” Her daughter was referred to as “Baby Doe.”
“It’s a wasteland out there. It’s probably a good place to drop a body,” Donnelly said.
Retired Nassau County homicide Detective William Brosnan worked on the case for years and said he never stopped trying to trace the unique tattoo.
“It was something I couldn’t let go, not if you have a heart,” Brosnan said.
Jackson’s disappearance left her family searching for answers.
“I’m sorry that this animal got away with what he got away with instead of being a man and owning up to what he did years ago in fathering that child and ran away from it,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.
Another man, Rex Heuermann, has been charged in seven of the Gilgo Beach killings. Heuermann, a Long Island architect, has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities said there is no apparent connection between Dykes and Heuermann.
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