Framingham Police Chief Centers Victims After Rape Suspect Arrested

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Police Chief Lester Baker made sure to center the victims of a 1989 Framingham rape in his response to news that the suspect was arrested in Los Angeles last week.

Stephen Paul Gale was identified and charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery in connection with an incident at the "Hit or Miss" store in Framingham on Dec. 27, 1989.

Gale, who used aliases as part of a decades-long life on the run, was taken into custody after a police chase through Los Angeles on Thursday. State officials said he is entitled to a hearing relative to rendition proceedings before his return to Massachusetts.

State law enforcement officials in the days since Gale's arrest have responded to the news, including Baker, who reiterated that this couldn't have happened without the bravery of the two victims.

“On behalf of the Framingham Police Department, I would first like to commend the victims in this case for their strength and tenacity and for the courage they have shown throughout this investigation," said Baker.

He continued:

"I would also like to thank the Detectives of the FPD Bureau of Investigations--past and present--for their hard work and their relentless pursuit for justice for the victims. In addition, we would like to acknowledge and thank the Middlesex District Attorney’s office and our Local, State, and Federal partners who assisted us. These partnerships truly stretched across the country. The commitment of everyone involved brought about a unified response, which, in turn, has successfully led to the apprehension of Stephen Gale. This puts us one step closer to bringing justice for the victims in this horrific case."

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.