LOS ANGELES (WHDH) - A man accused of sexually assaulting two women at gunpoint in Framingham more than 34 years ago was taken into custody after a police chase in Los Angeles Thursday.
The rapes happened in December 1989 inside a women’s clothing store in the area of Shoppers World on Route 9.
In May, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was wanted in connection with the Framingham rapes. However, authorities did not know Gale’s location.
Months after the DA’s announcement, personnel with the Los Angeles Police Department embarked on a 90 minute chase through city streets and a highway Thursday afternoon.
The man police were chasing, who the US Marshals Service identified as Gale, managed to avoid multiple police PIT maneuvers before eventually hitting a spike strip. A news helicopter was flying overhead as police took Gale into custody.
The two victims in the 1989 rapes were 18- and 29-years-old at the time. Ryan said they were both working at the Hit or Miss clothing store when Gale entered, approached them, and asked for help selecting an outfit.
Ryan said Gale eventually forced the women into the back of the store, robbed them, raped them, and fled.
The two women reported the attack and police were able to collect forensic evidence from the scene. But police were unable to immediately identify Gale.
Years later, the marshals service in a statement said genetic genealogy connected Gale to a series of rapes between 1989 and 1990.
Gale was charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery in connection with the Framingham rapes.
Officials distributed his description around the country and said he was known to have gone by several aliases.
The marshals service announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to Gale’s apprehension and authorities vowed to continue to work toward justice.
“We do not forget what people came into this county and did,” Ryan said.
The marshals service said authorities with the service’s Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force moved in to arrest Gale after recent investigative efforts in Nevada and other locations. The marshals service said Gale fled from the task force and was ultimately taken into custody by LA police near the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Massachusetts State Rep. Adam Scanlon has been working with the victims to pass a bill removing the statute of limitations on cases like this one.
“I don’t have any other words for it, other than it was a miracle,” Scanlon said. “The survivors and the women involved in this particular case are about to begin to close a chapter in their lives that they never thought that they would be able to do.”
Though Gale has been arrested, sources told 7NEWS it is unclear when he will return to Massachusetts.
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