Framingham Rape Suspect Gale Arraigned, Held Without Bail

WOBURN, MA ? After years on the run, Stephen Paul Gale has been arraigned in a Massachusetts court room for the 1989 sexual assaults of two women at the Hit or Miss store in Framingham.

Gale was arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court on four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery for the sexual assaults on Monday. He was ordered held without bail.

The next court date is March 18, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. in Middlesex Superior Court.

The victims were two women, ages 18 and 29, who were operating the store on Route 9, officials said during a news conference at the time, which featured Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, Framingham Police Chief Lester Baker, and the United States Marshals Service.

Gale is accused of entering the store and approaching one of the women for help in selecting an outfit.

He is then accused of drawing a gun and forcing them into the back of the store, demanding that the older woman empty the store's cash register and her purse and give him the money.

Gale is then accused of taking the younger woman into the front of the store and having her write a note saying that the store would not open until later, before sexually assaulting both women in the back of the store.

Officials said Gale kept the two women in separate locked rooms but, when he eventually went back into the front of the store, the two women escaped out of a fire exit. They ran through backyards until they reached a home where they sought help.

During the assaults, Gale instructed the women not to look at him, threatening that, if they did, he would use the gun in his possession, officials said. However, both women were able to provide investigators with "important information" about his appearance.

This helped investigators ? along with forensic evidence ? develop a DNA profile of Gale. The profile was eventually uploaded in 2001 to a database, but a connection wasn't made until 2022 when a contract was reached with a company to create new genealogy-based leads.

Though Gale hasn't officially been connected to other crimes ? his identity was discovered through genealogy work, not a connection to other crime scenes ? Ryan said other incidents in the Boston metro area in 1989 were believed to be done by the same person responsible for these two assaults.

On August 8, 2024, detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department?s Gang and Narcotics Division along with members of the United States Marshal?s Apprehension Task Force located Gale in Wilmington, California where he was residing on a yacht identified as ?Dior.?

He allegedly fled the scene and made several attempts to evade police, including avoiding at least one set of spike strips. Ultimately, after an 82 minute pursuit that covered approximately 40 miles, Gale was apprehended.