Authorities identify victims in cold case associated with Gilgo Beach murders
Authorities in New York are offering a $25,000 reward for information in the cold case murders of an Army veteran and her 2-year-old child, who were recently identified years after their remains were discovered on Long Island, in a case that has been long been associated with the Gilgo Beach killings.
Nassau County authorities identified the victims on Wednesday as Tanya Jackson, 26, and her daughter, Tatiana Dykes.
The torso of the mother was found in June 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park. The victim, known as Jane Doe No. 3, had until now been known as Peaches due to a tattoo on her body.
Her daughter was found in April 2011 near Gilgo Beach and had been known as Baby Doe. Her remains were located during the search for Shannan Gilbert, whose desperate 911 call to police in May 2010 kicked off a search that would eventually result in the discovery of several sets of remains along the southern shore of Long Island.
More of the mother's remains were also discovered off of Ocean Parkway in Nassau County, 7 miles west of Gilgo Beach, in April 2011.
In 2015, investigators determined the two were mother and daughter through DNA analysis, though they still did not know their identities.
The FBI assisted in ultimately identifying the victims through investigative genetic genealogy studies. Agents and detectives interviewed family members and obtained DNA samples to confirm the identities, according to Nassau County Police Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick.
On Wednesday, authorities called on anyone who may have known the victims to come forward, including those who may have served with Jackson in the military.
"We have 27 years of catching up to do," Fitzpatrick said during a press briefing.
Fitzpatrick did not discuss evidence in the case, which he said may not be connected to the Gilgo Beach serial murders.
"Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings because of the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated from that investigation," he said.
Rex Heuermann has been charged with seven other Gilgo Beach killings, but he has not been charged with killing Jackson.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who is prosecuting the Heuermann case, declined to comment on the development announced by police in neighboring Nassau County, citing an ongoing pretrial hearing about DNA evidence.
"DA Tierney has refrained from making any comments about Rex Heuermann and any topics even tangentially involved to the investigation, pending completion of the ongoing pre-trial hearing. Once the hearing is concluded, DA Tierney will resume speaking with the media," his spokeswoman said in a statement.
Jackson was estranged from her family and was never reported missing, Fitzpatrick said.
She served in the Army from July 1993 to February 1995 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio; Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia; and Fort Leonard Wood in the Missouri Ozarks, police said.
The Alabama native was living in Brooklyn in 1997 as a single mother. The father of Tatiana has been cooperative with police, Fitzpatrick said.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly called the work in the case "tremendous."
"Solving aging cases like these are extraordinarily challenging, especially as evidence and people's memories fade in time," she said during the briefing. "We will never give up, not on an unsolved homicide, not on Tanya and Tatiana."
ABC News' Mark Crudele and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
