A man suspected of committing a decades-old rape in Framingham, Massachusetts, has been apprehended following a pursuit in Los Angeles, 5 Investigates reports. Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was taken into custody outside the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after a car chase that was closely followed by AIR7, a local news helicopter.
The chase began on Thursday around 4 p.m. in the Wilmington area and continued onto the 110 and 405 freeways, according to KTLA. Gale, driving an SUV, led police across Los Angeles at moderate speeds, obeying some traffic signals while avoiding attempts to halt the vehicle with spike strips and PIT maneuvers. Eventually, a spike strip managed to disable his vehicle, leading to his arrest more than an hour later.
Gale is facing charges including four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery, as stated by the Boston 25 News. These charges relate to a harrowing incident on December 27, 1989, when he allegedly assaulted two women at gunpoint in a Hit or Miss store in Framingham.
Gale's case resurfaced due to forensic genealogy tests conducted by Parabon Nanolabs, which, along with additional DNA evidence, established probable cause for his arrest. In May, Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan had previously presented an aged progression image and prior photographs of Gale, pointing to a substantial reward for information leading to his capture, The Boston Globe detailed.
The long-overdue capture of Gale has brought relief as well as a sense of resolution to the survivors. "None of this has ever left our lives. This has always been a part of us. And it is time that this guy gets brought to justice and taken off the streets," one victim told Boston 25 News. Gale had been evading authorities for years, living under various aliases and was believed to have connections to organized crime.
According to 5 Investigates, the pursuit and subsequent arrest was a spectacle watched live by the victims they had interviewed extensively in the past. Their pursuit of justice, like the pursuit of Gale's Lincoln SUV across LA's sprawl, reflects a persistence in the face of the expansive, often intimidating processes of law, one that finally seems to have led to a long-awaited closure. While he was medically evaluated after the chase, there is no immediate word on his current condition.
