Andrew Dykes, the Florida man accused of murder in a decades-long cold case, did not return to court for a hearing last Wednesday.
Dykes attorneys, Joseph LoPiccolo and Robert Schalk, represented their client at Nassau County Court on Feb. 25 in front of Judge Tammy Robbins.
In December, Dykes pleaded not guilty to murdering Tanya Denise Jackson at the Nassau County Court House last month. In June 1997, parts of Jackson’s dismembered body were found in Hempstead Lake State Park. Her body was unidentifiable at the time and she was referred to as “Peaches” due to a heart-shaped peach tattoo located on her chest. Officials released Jackson’s identity last April.
In 2011 more of Jackson’s remains, along with the body of an unidentified child, were discovered buried alongside Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach during a search for victims of the Gilgo Beach serial killer. In 2016 DNA evidence linked Peaches to the body of Baby Doe as mother and daughter.
An American Army veteran and former Tennessee state trooper, Dykes is the father of Jackson’s daughter, Tatiana Marie Dykes, who was also murdered. Her remains were found near Cedar Beach in 2011. Dykes and Jackson were not married at the time of the murders. His DNA was found at the crime scene via a vaginal swab on Jackson’s remains. Detectives in Florida tailed Dykes and recovered a discarded straw, which was found to be a match.
The next hearing for the case is set for March 27, during which the district attorney’s office is expected to turn over evidence to the defense.
