FL Man Charged With Murder In NY Deaths Of Mother, Daughter: Reports

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — A Florida man was arrested Wednesday at his Ruskin home in connection with the deaths of a mother and daughter whose remains were found on Long Island, New York, in 1997 and 2011, respectively, according to multiple reports.

Andrew Dykes, 66, was arrested on a fugitive murder warrant out of Nassau County, New York, Fox 5 New York reported.

He faces two counts of murder in the 1997 deaths of 26-year-old Tanya Denise Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran, and her 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Dykes, according to ABC News.

Andrew Dykes is believed to be the father of Tatiana, which is how detectives tracked him down, reports said.

The suspect appeared before a judge in Hillsborough County on Thursday and will be extradited to New York.

“I’d like to go to New York and defend myself,” he reportedly told the judge.

One neighbor told WFLA that he was home at the time of Andrew Dyke’s arrest.

“As I was coming out of the house, I just saw a bunch of officers outside and one man handcuffed,” Aja Ellis said.

Another neighbor, Rich Moran, expressed his shock about the arrest to WFLA.

“That’s kind of scary when you think about it, actually,” he said. “I would never have thought that; he didn’t seem anything like that.”

Jackson’s torso, which had a heart-shaped peach with a bite mark tattooed above her left breast, was found in a Rubbermaid bin in 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park in Nassau County, Patch previously reported. This unique tattoo earned her the nickname “Peaches" before her identity was known.

In 2011, Tatiana’s skeletal remains and Jackson’s arms and legs were discovered days apart on Ocean Parkway.

It’s believed that both were killed around the same time in 1997, Fox 13 said.

Because of where their remains were found, for years both deaths were associated with the Gilgo Beach serial murders, reports said.

Eleven sets of remains were found in that area and suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann was charged in the deaths of seven victims in that investigation, Patch reported. He was never charged in the deaths of Jackson and her daughter.

Following DNA testing, the identities of the mother and daughter, initially referred to as “Baby Doe,” were announced by homicide detectives in April of this year.