A Florida man accused of murder in a case long thought to be associated with the Gilgo Beach serial killing case has requested a second attorney for his defense.
Andrew Dykes, 66, of Ruskin, Fla., was arrested in December and charged with the murder of fellow U.S. Army veteran Tanya Denise Jackson. Jackson, from 1997 to 2025, had been known as “Peaches” for a tattoo of a bitten peach found on her partial remains recovered at Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997. Additional remains of Jackson were found along Ocean Parkway on Jones Beach in 2011.
He has pleaded not guilty. In a brief court appearance on Thursday, Dykes was brought in before Nassau County Judge Tammy Robbins, wearing a grey sweat suit and handcuffed behind his back. His defense attorney, Joseph LoPiccolo, filed a motion requesting a second chair — attorney Robert Schalk — for Dykes’s defense, to which Nassau prosecutors did not object.
“Mr. Dykes is innocent. Mr. Dykes is going to defend this case fully, and Mr. Dykes did not cause the death of Miss Jackson. It’s a tragedy, for certain, but he has nothing to do with it,” LoPiccolo said to reporters. “I’ve seen the grand jury minutes. And the grand jury minutes point out that, unfortunately, she was killed, and she was she had a relationship with Mr. Dykes, but it does not show anything that establishes that he caused her death. It’s an extremely circumstantial case. And the theory of the circumstantial cases you have to exclude all reasonable hypotheses of innocence.
“The simple fact is, there’s a lot of evidence showing that people were killed in the ’90s. It was a much different time. The fact that Mr. Dykes had a relationship with this woman does not establish that he caused her death. That’s the simple fact, and that’s my review of the grand jury minutes.”
Nassau prosecutors did not speak to media after the hearing, and the Nassau County District Attorney’s office said in an email that they had no comment on the matter.
Robbins asked Dykes several questions asking if he understood the motions being filed, to which he answered “Yes, your honor,” before being led out of the courtroom by court officers.
Robbins set a date of Feb. 25 for the next hearing in the case, both to rule on the motion for a second chair as well as to turn over more evidence to the defense.
READ MORE: Andrew Dykes charged with murder of ‘Peaches’ Tanya Jackson, but not their 3-year-old baby
Regarding the elephant in the room — Rex Heuermann, the accused Gilgo Beach serial killer who is charged with the murders of seven women, six of whom were also found along Ocean Parkway — LoPiccolo said that could play into the defense.
“I suspect the investigation may lead that way, but I can’t say for sure yet that is going to be something we’re going to be addressing,” LoPiccolo added.
Heuermann was in court earlier this week, when Suffolk County Judge Timothy Mazzei said that Heuermann’s trial will begin soon after Labor Day “come hell or high water,” and Michael Brown, Heuermann’s defense attorney, told reporters that he, likewise, intends to bring up the charges against Dykes in the trial.
“It’s going to play into the defense, because although [Heuermann] has not been accused of that crime, let’s call it what it is, every time you see the big matter of the Gilgo case, you see this victim Peaches, and her child, along with the unidentified Asian male,” Brown said on Tuesday. “You always see that on the Gilgo case.”
Dykes — also a U.S. Army veteran and former Tennessee state trooper — 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.
Dykes’s 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.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said after Dykes’s December hearing that the authorities believe Andrew Dykes also killed his and their child. But Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Tuesday there will be no charges.
“I have no comment, and there will be no charges,” Tierney said.
