A Massachusetts man wanted for rapes 35 years ago is arrested following a Los Angeles police chase

(CNN) — A man wanted in the 1989 rapes of two Massachusetts women is in custody following an hourlong police chase in Los Angeles Thursday.

Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was arrested after leading police on the chase, US Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron told CNN. The chase started just before 4 p.m. as Gale drove on the 405 Freeway at a moderate rate of speed while obeying most traffic signals, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

Massachusetts officials charged Gale in May with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery, according to the news release.

Gale is accused of sexually assaulting two female employees of a clothing store in Framingham, Massachusetts – about 20 miles west of Boston – nearly 35 years ago, according to a news release from Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

DNA evidence collected at the scene helped investigators identify Gale as the suspect through genetic genealogy, officials said.

Genetic genealogy is the practice of combining DNA evidence with traditional genealogy to find biological connections between people.

“This DNA evidence and the statistical results comparing the probability of relatedness provide probable cause to identify Stephen Paul Gale and led to the issuance of today’s arrest warrant,” the news release from May said.

“None of this has ever left our lives,” one of the victims told CNN affiliate WFXT. “This has always been a part of us. And it is time that this guy gets brought to justice and taken off the streets.”

On December 27, 1989, Gale entered the Hit or Miss Store on Route 9 and forced two female employees to the back of the store, according to the news release. He forced one of the victims to “empty the money from a locked safe, the store’s register and her pocketbook into a bag,” the release said. He then forced the second victim to lock the store’s doors before forcing both women to remove their clothes and then placed each of them in a separate room, the release said.

“He sexually assaulted both women while holding the gun to their heads. When the suspect returned to the front of the store, the victims fled out the rear fire door to a nearby home,” the release said.

The women, the manager of the Hit or Miss clothing store, who was 29 in 1989 and an employee, who was 18, spoke to CNN affiliate WCVB.

“He was very clean-shaven. He was very presentable. He was in khakis, in a casual jacket and shirt, not business attire,” the younger woman said in a 2021 interview. “He had me crawl naked on my hands and knees to the back office. And that’s where the assault happened.”

“One of the main memories that I have is he kept saying over and over again, ‘Don’t look at me, don’t look at me,’” she added.

The 29-year-old woman said she kept looking back at him. “Then he would hit me in the head with the gun and he would catch me and say, ‘Don’t look at me, don’t look at me, or I’ll blow you away,’” she told WCVB.

As years passed with no new information or arrests, the women began to feel ignored.

“I started this with some hope and it was just shattered, (it) dropped me down to a low level of disappointment and just feeling really abandoned and worthless,” the former manager said. “It made me feel really small and unimportant and just forgotten.”

US Marshals from the District of Massachusetts began working on the case in February at the request of the Framingham Police Department, Massachusetts State Police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, McCarron told CNN.

The US Marshals Service named Gale as a suspect in the case in an X post in May, noting he was likely living under multiple aliases, including Stephen Pisarcik, John Rossi, and Paul Costa.

A $5,000 reward was offered for tips leading to his arrest.

“I’d like to acknowledge the victims for their bravery. Without their ongoing help and courage, we would never have been able to finally have a break in this horrific crime,” Framingham Police Chief Lester Baker said in the release.

“It’s been a long time coming – over thirty years now – and I am grateful to now have the opportunity to finally tell them and their loved ones that all of their efforts have not been in vain. This crime has haunted the Framingham community for decades, but none of us ever gave up hope or forgot about them,” Baker added.

CNN is working to confirm Gale’s location following his arrest, if he has retained an attorney and whether he is facing additional charges.

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