MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A retired Army veteran and state trooper from Florida pleaded not guilty Thursday in the 1997 killing of a young mother that had long been tied to an infamous string of murders near New York’s Gilgo Beach.
Andrew Dykes, 66, formally entered the plea during his arraignment in Nassau County court in Mineola in the killing of Tanya Denise Jackson.
He didn’t speak further in court before he was ordered held in custody until his next court date on Jan. 16.
Dykes’ lawyer, Joseph Lo Piccolo, said after the brief hearing that he expected his client would challenge the DNA evidence prosecutors say link him to the killing. He also described Dykes as a “law-abiding” citizen these past 30 years.
“He’s a father. He led a life that many would respect in law enforcement, in the military,” Lo Piccolo said.
Prosecutors said Dykes had met Jackson while the two had been stationed at a military base in Texas.
The two had a relationship while Dykes was still married and had a child, Jackson’s 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Marie Jackson, who was also found killed on Long Island.
Dykes, who was not charged Thursday in the toddler’s killing, was arrested earlier this month in Tampa and held in a Florida jail until his extradition to New York.
Tanya Jackson was found in a state park on Long Island in 1997, her body dismembered and long unidentifiable beyond a tattoo of a peach.
Her daughter’s body and some more of Jackson’s remains were found years later elsewhere on Long Island.
Investigators in 2011 had been combing an ocean parkway near Gilgo Beach as part of a sprawling investigation into mostly female sex workers who had disappeared in the area when they found the Jacksons’ remains.
A total of 10 sets of human remains were found in the sand along the parkway overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Police have long said some of the remains were likely victims of a serial killer but that there was also evidence the remote area had been a dumping ground for more than one murderer.
Rex Heuermann, a married father who lived near Gilgo Beach, was eventually charged in seven of the killings, but not the slayings of the long unidentified mother and her toddler.
The Long Island architect has maintained his innocence as he remains in custody awaiting trial.
In April, Nassau County police revealed they had identified the mother, who investigators had nicknamed “Peaches” for her tattoo, as Jackson through advanced DNA and genealogy research.
They said the 26-year-old Alabama native and veteran of the Gulf War had been living in Brooklyn with her daughter at the time of her disappearance and was largely estranged from her family.
Police had said the toddler’s father, who they did not name at the time, had been cooperating with the investigation and was not considered a suspect.
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