Florida man arrested in 2011 New York murders of Alabama veteran, toddler once linked to serial killer

The New York Times is reporting that a 66-year-old man from Florida has been charged in the death more than two decades ago of a woman born in Alabama and her two-year-old child.

Andrew Dykes of Ruskin, Fla., was indicted this week by a grand jury on charges of murdering Tanya Denise Jackson and her two-year-old, Tatiana Marie Dykes.

Tanya Jackson was known as Jane Doe No. 3, or “Peaches,” after a tattoo on her torso of a heart-shaped peach with a bite taken out of it. She was identified in April.

According to The New York Post, Jackson’s torso was discovered in 1997 stuffed in a container in a wooded section of Hempstead Lake State Park, along a remote stretch of Long Island oceanfront, several miles from the New York City border.

In 2011, more of Jackson’s remains were found in the Gilgo area, along with the body of her daughter.

Tatiana was found in a thicket, wrapped in a blanket and wearing gold jewelry.

Tanya Jackson had been born in Alabama and served in the U.S. Army from 1993 through 1995, when Tatiana was born. Jackson later moved to Brooklyn, where she may have worked as a medical assistant, according to police.

Jackson had never been reported missing and was reportedly estranged from family members.

She and her daughter were buried at the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort.

Dykes was the father of Tatiana Marie Dykes, according to police. He was arrested on Wednesday in Florida on a felony fugitive warrant.

Both Jackson and Tatiana Dykes had initially appeared to be possible victims of the Gilgo Beach serial killer, in part because of their proximity to where other victims were discovered, but investigators eventually ruled this out.

Rex Heuermann, a Massapequa Park, N.Y., architectural consultant, faces charges of killing seven women, six of whom were found in the Gilgo Beach area.