Police seek suspect who allegedly robbed Framingham store and raped employees in 1989

Authorities announced Tuesday that they have identified a suspect who allegedly robbed a Framingham clothing store and raped two women at gunpoint in 1989. 

Law enforcement officials are conducting a nationwide search for Stephen Paul Gale, who would now be 71. Gale faces four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a press conference. 

Gale is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds, according to a subsequent press release from Ryan’s office. He was last known to be living in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. He has ties to Phoenix, as well as multiple cities in Texas, Utah, and Florida. Gale is believed to have ties to organized crime. 

The last confirmed sighting of Gale was at a family event in 2007, Ryan said. This occurred outside of Massachusetts but within the U.S. She did not specify where.

Gale has been known to use many aliases: Stephen Pisarcik, John Rossi, Paul Costa, Paul DeRosa, Paul DiCarli, Paul Joseph DeCarlo, Steve Miner, Paul Williams, and Paul Ptaszynski. 

The U.S. Marshals Service is offering up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to Gale’s arrest. Anyone with relevant information should contact the Framingham Police Department at 508-532-5923. Tips can also be submitted to the U.S. Marshals Boston office at 1-877-WANTED2 (926-8332). 

Early in the morning on Dec. 27, 1989, two women were working at Hit or Miss, a store on Route 9 in Framingham. The women, aged 18 and 29 at the time, were opening up the shop when Gale allegedly entered and asked for help selecting clothes to buy. He then brandished a .357 magnum revolver and forced the two victims into the back of the store. 

The suspect demanded to know where the store’s money was located. He forced the older woman to empty cash from a locked safe, a cash register, and her purse into a bag, Ryan said. 

The younger woman was brought into the front of the store and told to handwrite a note saying that the business would be opening late that morning. Gale made her write the note, tape it to the front door, and lock the door, according to prosecutors.

Gale allegedly brought the victims into two separate rooms in the back of the building and demanded that they remove their clothes. He individually brought them into an office, where he sexually assaulted each woman while holding a gun to their head, according to Ryan’s office. Throughout the ordeal, Gale told them not to look at him or to make any wrong moves or else they would be shot, authorities said.

He left them in the back rooms and returned to the front of the store. The women were able to escape through a fire door. They ran across backyards nearby to another home, where they sought help. At the time, other attacks in the area were believed to be linked to the incident at Hit or Miss. Investigators have not definitively linked any of these cases to Gale. 

Both women gave police critical information about their attacker’s appearance in the immediate aftermath. Forensic evidence was collected at the time, and DNA information was uploaded to an online database used by law enforcement in 2001. There were never any matches identifying the suspect. 

In 2022, investigators contracted Parabon NanoLabs to conduct investigative genetic genealogy. The method is a relatively new one that is now commonly used to help solve cold cases. Eventually DNA samples were obtained from known members of Gale’s family and checked against evidence obtained from the scene. The high likelihood of relatedness gave authorities probable cause to issue the recent warrant for Gale’s arrest. 

Law enforcement agencies around the country have been working to locate Gale. This has been complicated by his many aliases, ties to multiple states, and lack of cohesive work history. 

“It’s a very long time, and people can be in many, many places in almost 35 years,” Ryan said. “There’s really, over the last several months, been a painstaking search to try to figure out where he went, where he’s been, and where he might be now.”

Ryan’s office released a police sketch from 1989 of the suspect, a driver’s license photo of Gale from California in 1995, and an age progression photo recently done by the FBI to estimate his current appearance. 

Tuesday’s announcement was meant to send a clear message, Ryan said. 

“We do not stop working on these cases,” she said. “They are never closed. And we do not forget what people came into the county and did.”