Nassau police to reveal identities of 1997 homicide victims 'Peaches' and toddler long associated with Gilgo Beach investigation, sources say

Nassau police on Wednesday will announce the identity of Gilgo Beach homicide victim Jane Doe No. 3 and her toddler, multiple law enforcement sources told Newsday.

Partial remains of the woman, commonly referred to as "Peaches" based on a tattoo of the fruit on her body, was discovered stuffed inside a Rubbermaid container at Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview in June 1997, police said at the time.

The skeletal remains of the female child, found off Ocean Parkway in Suffolk County in April 2011, were linked to the woman through DNA analysis done as part of the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation, police have said.

Nassau police have called a news conference for 11 a.m. Wednesday, announcing only that Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder and Homicide Squad Commanding Officer Stephen Fitzpatrick will provide an update on the "Peaches" investigation.

Sources said the identifications were made "some time ago," but have not yet been made public. In 2022, the FBI sought information on a deceased man in Mobile, Alabama, who investigators believed had a genetic connection to the woman and child. Investigators have said they believe the woman was likely killed within three days of the June 28, 1997, discovery of her mutilated remains.

Peaches and the toddler are among three sets of human remains long associated with the Gilgo Beach case who have never been publicly identified.

Law enforcement in Suffolk County have said they still do not know the identity of the third person, an Asian male, and have made recent pleas to the public for help in learning the identity.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney declined to comment on the announcement being made Wednesday in the neighboring county, citing a policy not to comment on anything related to the Gilgo Beach case during an ongoing hearing involving DNA found in six of seven killings charged to Massapequa Park architect Rex A. Heuermann.

"I'll have more comments once the hearing concludes," Tierney said. "I'm not going to speak on any topics even tangentially related to the Gilgo Beach investigation until our hearings are concluded."

Heuermann's attorney, Michael J. Brown, declined to comment.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Criminal Court to seven killings of women, including six whose remains were found off Ocean Parkway.

No arrest has been announced in connection with the three previously unidentified sets of remains or in the killing of Karen Vergata, whose remains were found both off Ocean Parkway in 2011 and on Fire Island in 1996. Vergata was publicly identified in 2023.

Tierney has declined to say if he believed Heuermann was involved in any of the other killings or to rule him out as a suspect since his July 2023 arrest, saying his office "speaks in indictments." The seven killings he has been charged with date back to between 1993 and 2010.

Wednesday's announcement is being made by Nassau County police because the remains of "Peaches" were found in its jurisdiction, sources said.

With Nicole Fuller