JONES BEACH, N.Y. (PIX11) — The FBI on Monday was pursuing a lead in Mobile, Alabama, hoping to find the identities of Jane Doe #3 and her toddler daughter, two of at least 10 victims in the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK) case.
Jane Doe #3 is also known as “Peaches,” because of a peach tattoo she had above her left breast. Her torso was discovered 25 years ago in a green Rubbermaid container at Hempstead Lake State Park. In 2011, some of her extremities were found near Zach’s Bay in Jones Beach during the Gilgo investigation.
DNA later linked her to the skeletal remains of a toddler found 7 miles east on Ocean Parkway near Cedar Beach. “Peaches” and her daughter are the only Black victims recovered so far in the Long Island Serial Killer investigation.
When asked on Monday about a post on the Facebook page for the Mobile, Alabama Police Department, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told PIX11 News there’s “a slight lead” that FBI agents are following.
“The FBI is seeking relatives and friends of Elijah ‘Lige’ Howell/Howard (1927-1963). Mr. Howard lived in Prichard, AL with his wife Carrie and passed away in Mobile, AL in 1963 with Ms. Lillie Mae Wiggins Packer. His relatives may be able to assist in the case of a woman and child found in another state,” the Facebook post said.
The post continued: “Does this tattoo look familiar?” a reference to the peach tattoo pictured beneath the notice. “If anyone has information, please call 1-800-call-FBI or www.tips.fbi.gov.”
The FBI has taken a lead in the forensic science aspect of the Long Island Serial Killer investigation. It used public, genetic genealogy DNA sites to identify Jane Doe #6, Valerie Mack, in 2020. Mack’s torso was discovered by hunters in Manorville, Long Island in 2000. Her limbs were found 11 years later in the brush off Ocean Parkway during the early months of the Gilgo Beach investigation.
The LISK investigation began after four escorts were found in the brush of Gilgo Beach, off Ocean Parkway, in December 2010. Several of the women were wrapped in burlap. They were found during a search for another missing sex worker, Shannan Gilbert, who had disappeared on May 1, 2010, after making a frantic call from a nearby house. Gilbert’s body was found in December 2011 in the marshes of Oak Beach.
The push to identify “Peaches” took on new urgency after DNA tied her remains to the toddler found off Ocean Parkway. The little girl was wearing a gold chain and earrings, along with bracelets that matched the jewelry found on the mom’s extremities.
A hiker had found the woman’s torso inside a black plastic bag in the Rubbermaid container near Park Drive in Hempstead Lake State Park. At the time, medical examiners noted the victim had a C-section scar, so they knew she had given birth to a child. Her skull was never found.
PIX11 News reached out to law enforcement in Mobile for more information but had not heard back, as of the publishing of this story.
