Stephen Paul Gale Found Guilty of 1989 Aggravated Rape at Hit or Miss Department Store in Framingham
WOBURN – Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Framingham Chief of Police Lester Baker have announced that Stephen Paul Gale, 73, has been convicted by a Middlesex Superior Court jury after a twelve day trial of four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery in connection with sexually assaulting two women at the Hit or Miss Store in Framingham in 1989.
Sentencing is scheduled for Monday, March 30, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.
“For survivors the long passage of time without answers or anyone’s being held accountable can be excruciating. Today’s guilty verdict, hopefully, brings some peace to the two survivors who collaborated with law enforcement, persevered and did not waiver in their belief that we would reach this day. These older cases present substantial challenges and require relentless investigative work and dedicated resources. When I created our Cold Case Unit in 2019 it was my intention to reach these resolutions for survivors who had waited for years. Despite all of the effort devoted to this case when it occurred, the technology simply did not exist to identify the perpetrator. Those advances in technology, coupled with the persistence of all involved brought us to today. For those still waiting for answers, our commitment remains clear: we will revisit the past, pursue every lead, and continue to seek answers. When a crime occurs here we do not forget and we do not give up,” said District Attorney Ryan.
“The survivors in this case demonstrated tremendous courage for more than three decades. We are deeply grateful to them,” said Chief Baker. “I also want to recognize the tireless work of the Framingham Police Department Detective Bureau, whose dedication never wavered, even as the years passed. Finally, I extend our sincere thanks to our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners across the country who assisted in this complex investigation. Their collaboration, expertise, and shared commitment to justice were instrumental in bringing this case to resolution.”
On the morning of December 27, 1989, Stephen Gale entered the Hit or Miss Store on Route 9 in Framingham while two female employees, ages 18 and 29 at the time, were in the process of opening the store for the day. Gale asked one of the employees for assistance before pulling out a handgun, a .357 Magnum. He forced the two employees to the back of the store and made one of them empty all the money from a locked safe, the cash register and her pocketbook into a bag. He made the second employee lock the doors and put a sign on the front door saying the store would open late. Gale then forced the victims to take off their clothes and then separated them. He sexually assaulted both victims while holding the gun to their heads. Once the victims believed that Gale had left the store, they fled out of a back door to a nearby home.
A DNA profile was able to be developed from evidence that was collected. In 2022, as part of the investigation into these sexual assaults, Middlesex prosecutors and Framingham Police contracted with Parabon Nanolabs to use investigative genetic genealogy to develop new leads that could help identify the suspect. With this assistance and additional police investigation, DNA samples were obtained from known members of Gale’s family. Based on that testing profiles were developed and submitted to Bode Technology for comparison to sample from the scene. This DNA evidence and the statistical results comparing the probability of relatedness provided probable cause to identify Gale as the previously unidentified suspect. Stephen Gale was then charged in May of 2024, and an arrest warrant was issued.
On August 8, 2024, Gale was located by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department and members of the United States Marshal’s Apprehension Task Force in Wilmington, California where he was residing on a yacht called “Dior.” Gale fled the scene and made several attempts to evade police, leading them on an 82-minute and 40-mile-long car chase through Los Angeles, and was eventually apprehended.
This case was investigated by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the Framingham Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, the United States Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory.
Assistance has been provided by Dr. Kenji Inaba , University of Southern California Medical Center, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Jim McDonnell, the Los Angeles Police Robbery-Homicide Division assigned to the US Marshal’s Apprehension Task Force, Parabon Nanolabs, the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the Boston Police, the Boston Police Department, the Los Angeles Police Department Cold Case Homicide Unit, the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, the Investigation Division of the State of Nevada, Office of the Attorney General and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The prosecutors assigned to this case are Assistant District Attorney Katharine Folger and Ryan Rall. The Victim Witness Advocate is Meaghan McCarthy.
Watch the press conference here: https://youtu.be/OjMFRkaEVUY?si=jcP6jfnrwfyQBTuj