The site where Tanya Denise Jackson was found

This is the location where Tanya Denise Jackson was found.

It is situated at Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview, New York.

Jackson was a murder victim whose torso was discovered on Saturday, June 28th, 1997. She remained unidentified for nearly 28 years. She was nicknamed "Peaches Doe" until the Nassau County Police Department publicly identified her in April 2025.

Jackson's killer placed her dismembered remains in a green Rubbermaid tote container and partially covered it with a black plastic bag. He then pulled over to the side of Lake Drive and dumped it inside the treeline of this wooded area.

Discovery

On June 28th, 1997, the Department of Environmental Conservation held a fishing clinic for children at McDonald Pond in Rockville Centre.

In attendance that Saturday were Lynbrook resident Shel Basch, his daughter, a family friend, and his friend's kids.

After some time passed and the group failed to catch anything, the children became bored and restless.

At around 1 p.m., they decided to wander away from the fishing clinic and walk northbound along the trail beside Lake Drive. However, as they were walking along the trail, Basch smelled a strong odor coming from the wooded area on his left.

After venturing into the woods to investigate, he saw a green container that had been partially covered by a black plastic bag. At the time, the area was swarming with flies.

Upon realizing that something dead was inside the container, he decided to return to McDonald Pond and fetch one of the DEC officers from the fishing clinic. When they returned to the scene, the DEC officer ripped a section of the plastic bag and saw the left side of a bloated human torso.

Gilgo Beach killer

Jackson (26) is long believed to be the third victim of the Gilgo Beach serial killer (LISK). However, Nassau officials have yet to rule out the possibility that she is unconnected to the case.

She was nicknamed "Peaches" because she had a tattoo of a peach on her left breast.

Prior to Jackson's identification, the authorities estimated that she was an African-American or mixed-race woman who was between the ages of 16 and 30. She had a 6-inch scar on her abdomen that may have been caused by a C-section or another surgical procedure.

The medical examiner estimated that the victim died approximately three days before the discovery, which would have been Wednesday, June 25th, 1997.

Jackson had a young daughter

In December 2010, the authorities uncovered the skeletal remains of four sex workers near Gilgo Beach on Jones Beach Island.

This discovery led to a large-scale search of the bushes along Ocean Parkway.

On April 4th, 2011, the body of an infant female was discovered near Overlook Beach.

There were no visible signs of trauma. The infant's body was wrapped in a blanket. It is unclear whether this blanket was part of the same set as the pillowcase in the Rubbermaid container.

The toddler, who was recently identified as Tatiana Marie Dykes, became known as Baby Doe.

Seven days after Tatiana was found, Jackson's arms and legs were discovered inside a plastic bag near Jones Beach State Park.

The two sites are situated along the same stretch of highway, just eight miles apart.

DNA testing linked the arms and legs to the torso that had been dumped at Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997. It also proved that Jackson was Tatiana's mother.

Sadly, despite this development, the pair remained unidentified for a further decade.

The killer went to great lengths to hide Jackson's identity

The killer went to extraordinary lengths to hinder Jackson's identification.

In addition to dismembering Jackson's body and disposing of it at two locations that were 14 miles apart, the killer also made a deliberate effort to separate the young mother from her child's remains.

Furthermore, Jackson's skull is still missing. This suggests that a fourth location was used following the murder.

Sex worker

In the past, the police expressed their belief that "Peaches" may have been a sex worker who brought her toddler with her while she was meeting clients.

During one interview, former Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said that investigators spoke to many escorts, all of whom agreed that the practice was very common.

Retired NYPD Lieutenant-Commander and author Vernon Geberth also touched on the topic in the documentary The Killing Season:

"If you get called to do a trick and you have nobody to watch the baby, it's not unlikely that you will take the baby with you. Or maybe you'll have a significant other come with you to watch the baby while you do the trick, and then you go home. With a serial killer, no one's going home."

As of yet, there is no evidence linking Jackson to the sex trade.

Very little is known about her activities in Brooklyn.

In April 2025, Nassau officials said that Jackson was living in Brooklyn at the time of her disappearance and that she was "possibly" working at a doctor's office. However, it remains unclear whether they have tracked down the office in question or established a clear timeline of her employment.

Her movements in the weeks and months leading up to her murder remain unclear. At the time, she was a single mother who was estranged from her family in Alabama.

According to one law enforcement source, she was "clearly struggling."

Identification

Jackson and Tatiana were identified using a combination of genetic genealogy and public outreach.

On October 7th, 2022, the FBI made a public appeal in which they included a photograph of Peaches' tattoo and asked relatives of a man named Elijah "Lige" Howard to come forward.

Following the appeal, the authorities identified Jackson and her daughter, Tatiana, as a possible match. The following year, they confirmed their identifications by carrying out DNA tests with their relatives.

Jackson was born on October 22nd, 1970, in Mobile, Alabama. She served in the U.S. Army between 1993 and 1995. In 1994, she fell pregnant with her daughter, Tatiana. Tatiana was born on March 17th, 1995, in Texas. The child's biological father, Andrew Dykes, has been contacted and is being "cooperative."

"MISS-LEADERS"

Jackson and her daughter are the only known Black victims in the Gilgo Beach case. Furthermore, Jackson's torso was dumped markedly further west than the rest of the victims, in an area that doesn't have any obvious connection to the case.

Interestingly, Lakeview is predominantly African American (84.95% in the 2000 US Census). In fact, it has the highest percentage of Black residents on Long Island.

During an interview with the Daily Blu in December 2013, former SCPD Commissioner Richard Dormer said that the killer is methodical and puts effort into covering his tracks. This raises the possibility that he purposely selected this location in an effort to mislead the investigation.

In other words, he may have wanted them to believe that this unidentifiable Black female was from Lakeview or that she had been killed by someone who lived in the area.

Tattoo

Judging by newspaper archives, Jackson's murder didn't garner a huge amount of attention. At the time, it wasn't apparent that there was an unidentified serial killer operating on Long Island.

A few newspaper articles were published in the days following the discovery. However, they were nowhere near the front page.

The police published a photograph of the victim's tattoo in the local newspaper in the hope that someone would recognize it.

Following this development, it appears that the killer began to conceal his victims' tattoos, which indicates that he may have read this article and learned from his mistake. If this is true, then it shows us that he was paying close enough attention to see the public appeal.