Rex Heuermann's 2026 Trial: The Planning Document, 7 Victims, and the Arrest That Changed Everything
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In December 2025, police charged Andrew Dykes — the father of "Baby Doe" — with murdering Tanya Jackson and their two-year-old daughter Tatiana. For fourteen years, investigators assumed they were victims of the Long Island Serial Killer. They weren't. Dykes had been cooperating with the investigation for months before his arrest. His name was on the child's birth certificate.
That means Ocean Parkway wasn't one killer's dumping ground. It was a corridor for multiple predators.
But Rex Heuermann is still facing the fight of his life. Seven victims. One trial. Judge Mazzei denied severance and admitted cutting-edge DNA evidence the defense called "magic." The prosecution has filed its statement of readiness with a 723-page evidence inventory.
And then there's the planning document — a deleted Word file found on Heuermann's hard drive that prosecutors say is a literal blueprint for murder. Categories for "Body Prep." Instructions to remove heads, hands, and identifying tattoos. Notes about rope strength. References to FBI profiler John Douglas's Mindhunter. A dump site listed that matches where victims were actually found.
January 13, 2026 is the next major court date. After that, we're looking at a trial date announcement.
In this episode, we break down everything coming in 2026: the evidence, the victims, the family fracture, and the cold cases still waiting for answers. Karen Vergata. Asian Male Doe. Shannan Gilbert. The investigation isn't over.
Rex Heuermann says he's innocent. His daughter believes otherwise. The jury will decide.
#RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #LISK #LongIslandSerialKiller #TrueCrime #GilgoBeachMurders #ColdCase #TrueCrimeNews #SerialKiller #Justice2026
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brucey. |
| 0:07.1 | For 14 years, investigators believed a two-year-old girl found wrapped in a blanket near Giggle Beach was murdered by the same man who'd been dumping bodies along Ocean Parkway. |
| 0:19.2 | She was wearing tiny gold hoop earrings when they found her. |
| 0:24.4 | A rope necklace, no apparent trauma, just a toddler, discarded in the brush like she was nothing. |
| 0:35.8 | They called her baby dough. |
| 0:37.9 | Her mother known only as peaches because of a tattoo on her torso had been found dismembered |
| 0:44.5 | in 1997. |
| 0:46.0 | Additional remains turned up in 2011, not far from where the child lay. |
| 0:50.4 | The assumption was obvious. |
| 0:52.1 | Same killer, same stretch of coastline, same pattern of disposal. |
| 0:56.7 | When Rex Herrmann got arrested in 2023, everyone figured it was only a matter of time before |
| 1:02.3 | Peaches and Baby Doe got on his tab. They were wrong. In December of 2025, police arrested |
| 1:10.2 | Andrew Dykes, a 66-year-old man living near Tampa, Florida, |
| 1:14.4 | and charged him with murdering both of them. |
| 1:17.0 | Andrew Dykes was the child's father. |
| 1:19.0 | His name was on the birth certificate. |
| 1:20.9 | That's how they found him. |
| 1:22.1 | The same DNA genealogy technology that identified the victims led investigators directly to the man who allegedly |
| 1:28.5 | killed them. And here's where it gets uncomfortable. Dykes had been cooperating with the investigation. |
| 1:34.3 | When police announced the identifications back in April of 25, they specifically noted that the |
| 1:39.1 | father had been located and was assisting with inquiries. Seven months later, he was in handcuffs. So what does |
| 1:46.6 | this mean for the Rex Herman case? It means the body count along that stretch of Long Island |
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