They met while serving in the U.S. Army, a shared military background that prosecutors now say sits at the center of a decades-old homicide tied to the Gilgo Beach investigation.
Nassau County prosecutors in New York say Andrew Dykes, a former U.S. Army operating room technician, murdered fellow service member Tanya Denise Jackson in 1997, dismembered her body, and discarded her remains on Long Island, a case that later became intertwined with the Gilgo Beach investigation after additional remains were discovered during the 2011 search along Ocean Parkway. Authorities say decades of preserved evidence, combined with advances in DNA and forensic genealogy, allowed investigators to identify Jackson and her young daughter in 2023 and link Dykes to the crime.
Similar advances in forensic genealogy and DNA analysis have helped investigators nationwide resolve cold cases involving service members and civilians alike, illustrating how long-dormant evidence can gain new significance decades later. Dykes was arrested in Florida earlier this month, waived extradition, and was arraigned in Nassau County Supreme Court, where he faces a charge of second-degree murder and was ordered held without bail.
From Army Service to a 1997 Killing
Prosecutors allege Dykes killed Jackson in 1997, dismembered her body, and took deliberate steps to conceal the crime by separating and disposing of her remains in multiple locations. Jackson’s torso was discovered that year in Hempstead Lake State Park in Nassau County, but investigators were unable to identify her at the time, leaving the case unresolved for decades.
Authorities say Jackson and Dykes met while serving in the U.S. Army in the mid-1990s, where Dykes was trained as an operating room technician and later worked as an instructor in anatomy and physiology. Prosecutors allege that medical background is significant, saying it helps explain the manner in which Jackson’s body was dismembered and why investigators believe the crime required specialized knowledge…