Man sentenced for raping 2 women in Framingham store in 1989

Local News

Stephen Paul Gale will likely die in prison, given the sentenced he received more than 30 years after he robbed a Framingham store and raped two employees in 1989.

Stephen Paul Gale, the suspect identified through DNA in a decades old double rape case at a Hit or Miss store in Framingham, is wheeled into Courtroom 440 at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn for his arraignment, March 10, 2025. Art IIllman/MetroWest Daily News/pool

A man found guilty of raping two women in a Framingham store more than 30 years ago was sentenced to at least 50 years in prison Monday.

Stephen Paul Gale, 73, was convicted last week on four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery in Middlesex Superior Court, records show.

Gale will serve at least 25 years and no more than 30 years for each rape, Judge Patrick Haggan ruled Monday, according to court records, meaning he will likely die in prison. He was ordered to Souza Baranowski Correctional Center, the state’s only remaining maximum security prison.

Gale’s sentence reflects the penalties that were in place at the time of the offence in 1989, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said.

The cold case picked up in 2022, Ryan said after the verdict last week, after her office began using “investigative genetic genealogy.” Using DNA left at the crime scene, investigators were first able to identify family members of the suspect before identifying Gale in 2024.

“This case, and today’s verdict, is a powerful example of the promises that underlay my decision in 2019 to create a cold case unit,” Ryan said previously. “It is never too late. We do not forget, we do not stop. We continue to move forward, looking for the answers in these cases.”

In 1989, Gale pulled a handgun on two employees opening a Framingham Hit or Miss store, a then-popular discount women’s clothing store. He then robbed the store and forced the two women, age 18 and 29, into two separate rooms, where he raped them while holding a gun to their heads, prosecutors said.

Framingham Police Chief Lester Baker commended the women, saying “their tremendous courage and inspiration to the entire Framingham Police Department.”

At the sentencing Monday, both victims made impact statements, WCVB reported.

“I was held against my will and I was hurt. After that, at 18 years old, I had to pick up the pieces that were left of what the defendant took from me. What was done to me that day has changed my life forever,” said one of the women.

“From that moment on, my life was never the same,” said the other woman. “Your honor, I respectfully ask that you sentence this man in a way that ensures he can never hurt anyone else again.”

Gale’s defense attorney filed a notice of appeal Monday after the sentencing.

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.

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