A suspected serial rapist wanted for the 1989 rapes of two women in Massachusetts was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles after a lengthy police chase.
Officers located the suspect, Stephen Paul Gale, 71, driving a dark SUV, shortly after 4 p.m. in the Wilmington area and began their pursuit, according to U.S. Marshals.
Gale led police on the 110 and 405 freeways, eventually exiting the freeway onto surface streets on Los Angeles’ Westside while driving at a moderate speed, KTLA5-TV and ABC7-TV reported.
The hour-and-a-half chase ended on Medical Plaza Drive in Westwood, near Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said Kevin Terzes, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police surrounded the driver’s vehicle with guns drawn, KTLA5 reported. The driver surrendered and was taken into custody.
His arrest is the result of a decades-long national manhunt for Gale, who was accused of aggravated rape and kidnapping of two women in Massachusetts in 1989.
He was recently identified through genetic genealogy as a suspect in a series of rapes in Boston between 1989 and 1990, authorities said.
At the time of the incidents, Gale’s identity was unknown and he was simply referred to as the “Boston Mall Rapist.”
Federal authorities said Gale had been on the run for years before he was finally identified as the suspect in the 1989 case. He was last seen in public in 2008.
In May, the U.S. Marshals Office issued a wanted poster for Gale in connection with the 1989 case, with a reward of up to $5,000 for his capture. The poster also said Gale was also wanted for questioning in connection with the string of rapes in the Boston metropolitan area.
