Alabama man pleads guilty to 1980 Boston hotel murder
BOSTON, March 12, 2025 – An Alabama man today admitted to strangling a sex worker in a Boston hotel in 1980 and received a 13-15 year sentence to run concurrently with the life sentence he is already serving for an Alabama rape and murder in 1982, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.
STEVEN FIKE, 65, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will return to the Alabama prison where he is serving the life sentence.
Assistant District Attorney John Verner said that on March 18, 1980, Boston Police responded to the Diplomat Hotel on Chandler Street in the Back Bay and found Wendy Dansereau, 19, dead on the floor of room 506, the room showed signs of a struggle, Verner said. Dansereau had a red scarf tied around her neck with ligature marks under the scarf. Dansereau’s clothes were found scattered around the room and her bra was damaged. The investigation determined that Dansereau had entered the hotel earlier with a customer. The medical examiner collected oral, anal and vaginal samples during the autopsy. Despite the best efforts of investigators the case went unsolved, Verner said.
In 2011 investigators entered the sample evidence into the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and obtained a match between a vaginal sperm sample and DNA obtained from Fike after his conviction in Alabama. Partially-smoked cigarettes from the hotel room also matched Fike’s DNA, Verner said.
When interviewed by Boston homicide detectives in April 2018 in Alabama, Fike denied ever having been in Boston. He continued his denials when confronted with the evidence of his DNA in Dansereau’s body, Verner said.
Fike placed himself in Keene, NH around the time of Dansereau’s murder. Police reports from Keene show that Fike committed a petty larceny about 12 hours before Dansereau entered the Diplomat Hotel with a customer, Verner said.
“After 45 years, and thanks to advances in DNA science, the collection of evidence by Alabama authorities, and the perseverance of investigators here, Wendy Dansereau’s family at last has an answer about who was responsible for her tragic death,” Hayden said.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Mass. The office handles over 20,000 cases a year. More than 160 attorneys in the office practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Boston Juvenile Courts. The office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs to serve anyone who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. This office is committed to educating the public about the services we provide, our commitment to crime prevention, and our dedication to keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications