Victim "Peaches" IDd as Tanya Denise Jackson, and toddler IDd as Tatiana Marie Dykes, found Hempstead Lake State Park, June 1997 #4

[Passeridae]

unfortunately, this or a previous little squabble, is all too common, and is used to justify the distance when like you said tragedy had already struck. heartbreaking.

Yeah. It kind of sounds like maybe there was some instability in her personal relationships around the time she went missing - one person at the press conference said she was estranged from many people in her life. Maybe they all thought she took Tatiana and left and had no interest in making contact.

For what it's worth, I have a sister who developed addiction issues who I haven't spoken to in years, and she regularly fell off the map for months at a time until about two years ago. I myself had some mental health struggles and cut off contact with many of my friends, and even after I got treatment I have not really been able to rebuild those relationships. For both of us, there was a pattern of disappearing and no matter how hard they try and how much they care, people do eventually get tired of always being the one to reach out and put effort into maintaining contact. It's hard work to be friends with someone who has withdrawn, especially over a huge distance, if they don't reach back.

I'm not saying Tanya struggled with mental health. She may have just been an incredibly busy single mom trying to build a life in a very expensive place over a thousand miles from her family, at a time when the internet wasn't ubiquitous, many people didn't have cellphones, and long-distance phone calls could be expensive and difficult to schedule. Or maybe she was struggling with something. There are a lot of reasons someone might fall out of touch with friends and family.

 

[Megnut]

Yeah. It kind of sounds like maybe there was some instability in her personal relationships around the time she went missing - one person at the press conference said she was estranged from many people in her life. Maybe they all thought she took Tatiana and left and had no interest in making contact.

For what it's worth, I have a sister who developed addiction issues who I haven't spoken to in years, and she regularly fell off the map for months at a time until about two years ago. I myself had some mental health struggles and cut off contact with many of my friends, and even after I got treatment I have not really been able to rebuild those relationships. For both of us, there was a pattern of disappearing and no matter how hard they try and how much they care, people do eventually get tired of always being the one to reach out and put effort into maintaining contact. It's hard work to be friends with someone who has withdrawn, especially over a huge distance, if they don't reach back.

I'm not saying Tanya struggled with mental health. She may have just been an incredibly busy single mom trying to build a life in a very expensive place over a thousand miles from her family, at a time when the internet wasn't ubiquitous, many people didn't have cellphones, and long-distance phone calls could be expensive and difficult to schedule. Or maybe she was struggling with something. There are a lot of reasons someone might fall out of touch with friends and family.

And no one would think LISK. Especially in 1997. Especially people far removed the area.

They may have called her land line. Left messages on her answering machine. Took her not answering, not returning phone calls as estrangement, imagined reasons for it, none of which included a green tote. As she missed holidays and birthdays, an estrangement would take on a life of its own.

It's not hard to see how that could happen.

I hope tips are pouring in so LE can piece together a timeline.

They mattered. Time doesn't change that.

JMO

 

[Vern]

I found a link (AE - hospital), but it is from the Sun and not allowed here, afaik. Google Northwell ....

I believe that AE's nursing degree and links came up in discussion way back when it was disclosed that LISK victim Jessica Taylor's remains were laid out on a "surgical drape" on which a male hair was found that established the confirmed DNA link to her killer, Heuermann.

The initial examination of Taylor’s remains in 2003 brought up a male hair on the surgical drape found underneath the victim. Earlier this year, a DNA sample from that hair was found to be a match to the buccal swab taken from Heuermann.

In googling "Maplewood, New Jersey" where it's been establised that Tanya J had a PO Box (did she also live here as well as more recently in Brooklyn?), perhaps she commuted to work there? Seems to be quite a few "medical" places of work there. I've no idea if any of those places existed in the mid-90s.

Perhaps an old New Jersey directory from the time period would come in handy. I'm thinking as well that having a PO Box near her work may have been more convenient for a single mom with a baby/toddler. Toddler is with a care provider while she's at work or did the "medical clinic" itself have on-site care facilities as some did/do for staff? Easier to head to the PO Box to check your mail on break etc without the wee one in tow.

IMO. Just some ideas going through my head.

 

[LadyL]

RH was much younger and could have presented as single. He might not have settled on a particular M.O. or victim type yet. If he's responsible for her murder, he could have lulled her into a false sense of security over even a few days, where she thought she could trust him.

I am most curious/ worried about the person who babysat for her. Is she alive and accounted for? If she disappeared, Tanya would be out a sitter and concerned about what happened to her. Maybe that search led her to RH.

I don't how LE learned about that babysitting arrangement. And her job at the n medical office, for that matter. From the sitter? Or from Tanya's family? In which case, is it substantiated? Or are those the sort of details a young mother might provide, in order for her family not to worry? It could be especially hard for a single mom to work, arrange daycare, make ends meet in Brooklyn, just trying to make out on her own.

I have to wonder where RH's new wife and baby were.... away from home? Where were they living then? The tote, pillowcase, etc, suggest a residence to me. Either RH's or could those be Tanya's own possessions.

Her baby's photo breaks me.

JMO

[bbm]

likely from baby Tatiana's father IMO

 

[snarast]

[bbm]

likely from baby Tatiana's father IMO

I wonder if he was in the army as well.

 

[fred&edna]

another random idea i've had... could tanya have worked for a doctor that provided family-planning etc services/resources that a high number of sex workers might have needed in 95 -97. maybe she made friends with those in the business... socialized with them.

 

[Megnut]

another random idea i've had... could tanya have worked for a doctor that provided family-planning etc services/resources that a high number of sex workers might have needed in 95 -97. maybe she made friends with those in the business... socialized with them.

If RH is responsible for her murder, there was a nexus. Whether directly or indirectly. It sounds like RH let some victims live, perhaps had arrangementships with some. Maybe some he could legitimate work for. With or without strings. Maybe he paid good money for regular hook ups or weekend escorts, just dinner, arm candy, no sex. At least that might be how he framed it, planning to change up the rules as soon as guards were down. Tanya might have only been tangentially connected to someone who was connected to RH, was accompanying that person.

Just so sad to think of, a veteran who had served our country, a single mom trying to raise child on her own, to end like it did, and then to remain unidentified all these years.

JMO

 

[whiterhino]

RH was hired in 2005 to do renovations for a shooting range and a female colleague met him there. I wonder if it was “Pioneer Shooting Range”. I think the ceiling and the columns match, and this target could look like a beer bottle. More like a milk bottle but..
If it is the place, I wonder if he just did a job there or if he frequented this place even before he did the work there? It claims to be the oldest operating range in Westchester County so I’m sure it was open when Tanya lived in NY too. It’s possible they could have met there.
(it’s also very close to where Veronica Wiederhold was found in 88.)

“A month after working in the house, she met Heuermann in the Bronx at a firing range where he had been hired for some renovations.
While there, he gave her a lesson.
'I met him out there and measured the gun range,' she said. 'And afterwards, he taught me how to fire a 9mm. I didn't know he was so into guns, but here we were.

'He was telling me how to place my hands under the hammer so when the hammer went back it didn't hit me,' she explained.
'I fired like four or five shots and I hit the target, a picture of a beer bottle. It was pretty intense.'”

Rex Heuermann refused to let interior designer measure locked room

Interior designer Katherine Shepherd told DailyMail.com how Rex Heuermann did not allow her to enter a room in his basement at his Massapequa Park in 2005.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Photo 1: RH at a firing range where he was hired to work
Photo 2: Google image from Pioneer Shooting Range in Mount Vernon, NY showing ceiling, column, and what could be a beer bottle shaped target

BBM maybe jmo but it sounds like this was some kind of relationship. I recall the story of RH helping this woman when she injured herself but didn't know about the gun range!

Since it took so many years to ID Tanya I'm assuming there was no opportunity to search her home as it would've been "abandoned" long ago. This really has me wondering... the state her apartment might've been left in, if there was any indication or evidence left behind that no one picked up on (the pillowcase and towel for example).

 

[summergirl1]

I looked up Tanya in old newspapers online, but didn't find anything.

 

[Teche]

Was Tanya and Tatiana’s father a couple at the time of their murders?

 

[MarziPanda]

Was Tanya and Tatiana’s father a couple at the time of their murders?

No, it's been said they were estranged

 

[Soulmagent]

In what circumstances would RH come in contact with her daughter? Was he in their apartment? Where did the container Tanya was found in come from? Where did the dismemberment take place?

Maybe though a local woman wellness center? We know wifey used food stamps , so well baby appointments ,or doctor visits ? I image a single mom living in NY would use those services.
The where did all these dismemberments take place is a very good question.

 

[FromGermany1]

I wonder if he was in the army as well.

Also: Maybe, he was an acquaintance of RH in some way (business or private)?

 

[fred&edna]

who did tanya know in ny... why did she move there. i only watched bits and pieces of the press conference so i might have missed this info entirely.

 

[Izzylizzy]

RH has been charged with VM's murder and the odds of anyone else being responsible for the murders of Tanya, Tatiana or anyone else yet to be identified is so slim as to be negligible.

IMO

 

[Soulmagent]

RH has been charged with VM's murder and the odds of anyone else being responsible for the murders of Tanya, Tatiana or anyone else yet to be identified is so slim as to be negligible.

IMO

It just make me wonder a few thing ,like TJ was murdered in 1997 and AC in 1993 ..there are some gaps in time .

 

[Hollyllennoco]

I believe that AE's nursing degree and links came up in discussion way back when it was disclosed that LISK victim Jessica Taylor's remains were laid out on a "surgical drape" on which a male hair was found that established the confirmed DNA link to her killer, Heuermann.



In googling "Maplewood, New Jersey" where it's been establised that Tanya J had a PO Box (did she also live here as well as more recently in Brooklyn?), perhaps she commuted to work there? Seems to be quite a few "medical" places of work there. I've no idea if any of those places existed in the mid-90s.

Perhaps an old New Jersey directory from the time period would come in handy. I'm thinking as well that having a PO Box near her work may have been more convenient for a single mom with a baby/toddler. Toddler is with a care provider while she's at work or did the "medical clinic" itself have on-site care facilities as some did/do for staff? Easier to head to the PO Box to check your mail on break etc without the wee one in tow.

IMO. Just some ideas going through my head.

Could peaches have worked for that creepy doctor that called Shannan’s mom? Did he know RH?!!?

 

[chetlemouge]

Could peaches have worked for that creepy doctor that called Shannan’s mom? Did he know RH?!!?

I doubt it.