Framingham, MA 1989 Rape Suspect Identified and Wanted – NBC Boston

Investigators have identified a man suspected of raping two women at gunpoint at a women’s clothing store on Route 9 in Framingham, Massachusetts, more than 30 years ago, authorities said Tuesday, asking the public for help Search for him.

Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was identified through forensic genealogy as the person who robbed the Hit or Miss store when it opened on Dec. 27, 1989, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference.

Gale has been charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery and is wanted for arrest but has not been located. He used aliases and lived all over the country, Ryan said.

“We demand that people look at these photos and that anyone who has information about Mr. Gale’s current whereabouts contact either the Framingham Police Department or the U.S. Marshals Hotline,” she said while speaking before There was a photo of Gale on police reports and a driver’s license.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673and Massachusetts provides this statewide list and resources for survivors of sexual assault.

A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Gale’s arrest, said U.S. Marshal Brian Kyes, who noted, “We will do everything we can … to bring justice to these victims.”

Gale’s last known whereabouts were at a family event in the United States in 2007, Ryan said. He is known to have lived in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and has ties to states such as Arizona and Texas as well as Massachusetts. It was not clear when he left Massachusetts.

“There were additional incidents in the metropolitan area in 1989, some of which are believed to have been attributed to the same individual,” Ryan said, adding that it remains to be seen whether they could be linked to Gale.

Ryan shared details of the alleged sexual assault, which she said left women waiting for justice tormented.

“Think about the lives of the two women affected by this incident…we don’t stop working on these cases, they never get closed, and we don’t forget what people came to this county and did,” Ryan said.

Gale allegedly entered the Hit or Miss store when two female employees, ages 18 and 29, were open for the day and asked for help purchasing clothing, but then displayed a .357 magnum gun and forced the women , go to the back area. He instructed the older employee, who served as manager, to empty the locked safe, cash register and her purse while the other employee locked the front door and wrote a sign saying the store would open late, Ryan said.

According to Ryan, he locked the women in different rooms, forced them to remove their clothing and sexually assaulted them separately in the office. The women then got out and fled through a back exit to a nearby house, where they received help.

The women shared important information “even though the defendant had repeatedly told them throughout the whole ordeal not to look at him, not to make any wrong moves,” Ryan said.