Police Identify ‘Peaches,' ‘Baby Doe' Victims Found Near Gilgo Beach Dumping Ground
Police have identified two of the Jane Doe victims found along Gilgo Beach, New York — near the dumping ground of the Long Island Serial Killer — nearly 30 years after they were murdered.
At a press conference Tuesday, Nassau County police identified 'Jane Doe No. 3' — known as 'Peaches' because of a tattoo of that fruit on her torso — as Tanya Denise Jackson, who was 26 at the time of her death. Jackson's torso was first found inside a Rubbermaid container at Hempstead Lake State Park in June 1997; 14 years later, her severed arms, legs, and head were found near Jones Beach State Park in 2011 amid the discovery of the confirmed LISK victims.
More from Rolling Stone
'Gone Girls': Three Things We Learned From Netflix's New Long Island Serial Killer Doc
'Gone Girls': See New Trailer for Netflix's Long Island Serial Killer Docuseries
Suspected Long Island Serial Killer Charged With Seventh Murder
When police uncovered the Gilgo Beach dumping ground in late 2010 and early 2011, among the other victims was the body of an unidentified toddler they dubbed 'Baby Doe,' who DNA evidence later determined was the daughter of 'Peaches.' On Tuesday, Nassau police identified the toddler as two-year-old Tatiana Marie Dykes, who was born in Texas in 1995.
At the time of their deaths, Jackson and her daughter were living in Brooklyn. Jackson served in the U.S. military, and was 'estranged' from her family, which authorities reasoned was why she was not reported missing in the years that followed. Additionally, Nassau police said they had identified Dykes' father, who 'has been cooperative' in the investigation.
Nassau police cautioned that although Jackson and Dykes' bodies were found in proximity to the LISK victims, it's likely the cases are 'unrelated,' though the investigation remains active.
Rex Heuermann, the man arrested in connection to the Long Island Serial Killer murders, is currently facing seven murder charges. He was originally arrested in July 2023 and charged with murdering three of the so-called 'Gilgo Four' victims, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Charges pertaining to the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, were brought in January of this year.
In June 2024, authorities charged Heuermann with the murders of two additional victims, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. Taylor had been missing since 2003, and her partial remains were discovered near Gilgo Beach. But Costilla's partial remains were found in 1993 in the Hamptons, and her unsolved murder had not been previously associated with the Long Island Serial Killer investigation. In December, Heuermann was charged with the 2000 killing of Valerie Mack. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Best of Rolling Stone
Every Super Bowl Halftime Show, Ranked From Worst to Best
The United States of Weed
Gaming Levels Up
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
10 minutes ago
- New York Post
Daughter of Gilgo Beach suspect accepts some of his alleged sex behavior, saying, ‘I'm not a kink shamer' — while revealing if she thinks he's serial killer
The daughter of accused Gilgo Beach murderer Rex Heuermann has dismissed at least some of the twisted sex claims against him, saying, 'I'm not a kink shamer' — while revealing if she thinks Dad is a serial killer. 'You know, everybody is into what they're into,' Victoria Heuermann, 28, told the new Peacock docu-series, 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' — her first interview since her dad, a married father of two, was arrested nearly two years ago after allegedly sexually torturing sex workers and murdering seven of them on Long Island. 'At this point, like, after everything that has happened, I'm like, I'm not somebody to say, 'Hey, you shouldn't be into this,' or, 'You should,' ' Victoria told the show, which begins airing Tuesday. 7 Victoria Heuermann, 28, here with mother Asa Ellerup, says in a new docu-series she is 'on the fence' about whether her father Rex is the Gilgo Beach serial killer. Peacock 'I'm not a kink shamer,' she said. The accusations against her dad have included sexual attacks, and among the items reportedly found at the family's home after his arrest were a fair-haired, child-sized doll, an unnerving portrait of a blonde woman with blackened eyes and 'a lot of torture porn.' When asked if she thinks her 61-year-old architect dad is guilty of the murders, the daughter added, 'Whether or not I believe my dad did it or not, I'm on the fence about that. 'Half of me believes he didn't do it, but at the same time, he could have totally had a double life.' The self-proclaimed comic-book nut and gamer suggested she initially thought he might be guilty. 7 Ellerup and Victoria leave Suffolk County court after a hearing for Rex. Dennis A. Clark 'In the beginning, when this all first went down, I didn't know what to believe, whether he did it or not,' she said. 'But as the weeks progressed, a lot of it was coming back to me. 'I was in school, my dad came to every performance. I was in the school band. He came to every performance, every dance recital, and my mom picked him up every day from the train station. I would see him in the morning when he was going to work and I was going to school. 'And as I'm thinking about it, I'm like, I really don't know. 7 Rex Heuermann is accused sexually torturing women and killing seven sex workers. Rex Heuermann Consultants & Associates 'If he was guilty, it's gonna start to become like a love-hate relationship,' she said. 'This is my dad, and I love him as my dad. The hate is this other side of him that came out. … Both feelings, love and hate, can co-exist.' The show said that a week before the series was set to air, Victoria then amended her hedging on her father's potential guilt to say she now believes he is 'most likely' guilty. 7 Rex's alleged 'Gilgo Four' victims were (clockwise from top left): Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. Suffolk County Police Department 7 Three more slain women — (from left) Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack — have been tied to Rex, too. Suffolk County Police Department The daughter, who was brought up in the family's Massapequa Park home, said the high-profile case has forced her to shy away from the public. 'I didn't start going out with my friends again until probably early September because we were at one point being followed around,' she said. 'Right now, I'm just safe here in this house. I kind of hide in my room a lot. … It's all open season on my family now.' Rex Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023, outside his Midtown Manhattan office and charged with three cold-case murders of young sex workers — the first of what would be a tally of alleged victims that has since grown to seven. The suspect — whose daughter described him as a 'true-crime fan' — is now awaiting trial in the sensational case. 7 Ellerup and her son, Christopher, sit on their front porch after police raided their Massapequa Park home. Dennis A. Clark According to Rex's wife, Asa Ellerup, Victoria was conceived on the night she and her husband were married in Sweden in 1995 after a years-long friendship dating to their teen years. Their daughter, who has an older half-brother, Christopher, from Ellerup's first marriage, said she had a happy upbringing, which included trips to Disney World and Comic Con conventions in several states. 'I may have considered changing my name when this first all went down,' Victoria said. 'But as time passed and progressed and I've been coping with this,' she said she chose not to. 7 Ellerup wholeheartedly believes cops have the wrong guy, while their daughter isn't so sure. Peacock Her worst moments, she said, were when the FBI and local cops raided the family's home in 2023, just hours after Rex was taken into custody in Manhattan. The family was kicked out of its house for what would be the first of two extensive searches in a hunt for evidence to the grisly crimes. When the family returned, Victoria noted, her 'Magic the Gathering' cards and brand-new PlayStation 5 were gone and the house was so disheveled that it took time to find a place to sit down. 'I feel when I came home and seeing everything they took, I feel like as if they were trying to leave us for dead,' she said. 'It's almost as if they think that we're guilty of this as well.' Additional reporting by David DeTurris
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Leaders of sexual wellness company OneTaste convicted in forced labor case
Two former top executives of a women-focused sexual wellness company that offered hands-on 'orgasmic meditation' classes were found guilty of forced labor conspiracy, federal prosecutors announced Monday. OneTaste co-founder and former CEO Nicole Daedone, 57, and the company's former sales director Rachel Cherwitz, 44, were accused of using 'deception and abuse' to obtain the labor and services of employees in a years-long coercive scheme. Investigators say the two women and an undisclosed number of co-conspirators subjected 'multiple young women' to economic, sexual, emotional, financial and psychological abuse, as well as surveillance, indoctrination and intimidation between 2006 and 2018. Founded in San Francisco in 2004, OneTaste operated in cities across the U.S., including New York and Los Angeles, as well as in London. The sexual wellness education company generated revenue through coaching, events, and classes on sexual practices, including 'orgasmic meditation,' which involved stroking a woman's genitals for 15 minutes. Some of the women who had turned to OneTaste seeking healing and spiritual guidance were instead coerced into working long hours — seven days a week — for little or no pay, performing manual labor and providing sexual services, prosecutors said. Those allegations were depicted in the 2022 Netflix documentary, 'Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste.' The defendants did so by using abusive and manipulative tactics to make their victims emotionally and psychologically dependent on OneTaste, which was sold in 2017 for $12 million. The two women were charged by federal prosecutors with forced labor conspiracy in June 2023, accused of grooming victims to engage in sex acts with investors, clients, employees and benefactors. On Monday, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Daedone, of New York, and Cherwitz, of California, following a five-week trial in which three witnesses testified about becoming 'handlers' for OneTaste's initial investor— who was also Daedone's boyfriend. The women recalled being required to live with him, cook for him, and 'perform demeaning sex acts at his direction,' prosecutors said. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., commended the witnesses who testified despite the trauma they endured at the hands of the defendants. 'The jury's verdict has unmasked Daedone and Cherwitz for who they truly are: grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants' benefit,' he said following the verdict. Attorneys for the two women said they were 'deeply disappointed' with the jury's decision, adding that Daedone and Cherwitz maintain their innocence and plan to continue their fight on appeal. 'We find inspiration in our clients, Nicole and Rachel, who have shown incredible strength throughout this entire process,' the lawyers said in a statement Monday. 'This case raised numerous novel and complex legal issues that will require review by the Second Circuit.'
Elle
6 hours ago
- Elle
You've Finished 'Dept. Q' On Netflix, But Did You Know There's A 'Dept. Q' Film Series Too?
If you're finding that you have a Dept. Q-shaped whole in your life at the moment, then fear not — for there's plenty more where the Netflix adaptation came from (and no, a season two hasn't been confirmed yet). Dept. Q, which is based on the Jussi Adler-Olsen novel series, tells the story of Detective Morck in the wake of his attack being assigned to lead a newly-assembled cold case unit. With a Mötley Crüe of unlikely peers, Detective Morck is tasked with his unit's first investigation: the mysterious disappearance of prosecutor Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie) several years earlier. FIND OUT MORE ON ELLE COLLECTIVE In case you've already binged the nine-episode series though, there is, in actual fact, another adaptation. A few years after the Adler-Olsen's first book was originally published in 2007, a Scandinavian film adaption was made of the novel, meaning there's another way to get your Dept. Q fix. Adler-Olsen published his first Dept. Q novel in 2007, and in the intervening years, he has published 10 more novels in the same cannon. The most recent novel in the series, Locked In, was published in 2021 and sees Detective Morck himself behind bars. Six years after the release of the first novel in the Department Q book series Mercy, a film adaptation was released in Denmark called The Keeper of Lost Causes. The film, which was released in 2013, stayed true to the plot of the book and Netflix series, starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Detective Morck, Fares Fares as Assad and Sonja Richter as Merritt Lingard. The following year, another film adaptation was released in Scandinavia. The Absent One, based on Adler-Olsen's novel of the same name, and followed Carl and Assad investigating the murder of a pair of twins whose death was meant to have been solved 20 years prior. Two years later, in 2016, another film adaptation was released. A Conspiracy of Faith explored the fall-out from what happens after an old message in a bottle turns up. And there was also a fourth film The Purity of Vengenace, too, which was released in 2018 and focused on what happened when the duo discovered three mummified bodies in an apartment. All of the Dept. Q film series are available to watch through ViaPlay on Prime Video. New users are eligible for a seven-day free trial of ViaPlay, which will then auto-renew for £4.99 a month if the subscription isn't cancelled. WATCH THE DEPT. Q FILMS HERE ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE. Naomi May is a freelance writer and editor with an emphasis on popular culture, lifestyle and politics. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard as its Fashion and Beauty Writer, working across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Acting News Editor at ELLE UK and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others.
