Crime & Safety

Alabama Man Charged In Boston Rape, Killing From 1980

The 62-year-old was the main suspect in the 1980 killing of Wendy Dansereau​.

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A 62-year-old from Alabama was arrested this week on rape and murder charges connected to a 1980 homicide in Boston.
A 62-year-old from Alabama was arrested this week on rape and murder charges connected to a 1980 homicide in Boston. (Renee Schiavone/Patch)

BOSTON, MA — Boston police detectives Wednesday arrested an Alabama man in connection to a decades old killing in a South End hotel.

Steve Fike, 62, was charged with rape and murder of Wendy Dansereau following his arrest, Boston police said in a news release. Investigators linked Fike to the crime using DNA evidence collected at the scene 42 years ago.

Suffolk County prosecutors initially indicted Fike in Dansereau's killing in 2019. At the time, Fike was serving a sentence in Alabama for a separate 1982 rape and murder.

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Dansereau, who was 19 at the time of her death, was found strangled at the Hotel Diplomat in the South End in March 1980.

Police said Fike will be arraigned at some point soon in Suffolk Superior Court.

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