Massachusetts
Massachusetts rape suspect wanted for decades-old crimes captured after police chase in Los Angeles
A suspected serial rapist from Massachusetts accused of raping two women at gunpoint nearly 35 years ago led California law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County on a car chase Thursday before being taken into custody.
Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was driving a Lincoln SUV while trying to get away from authorities before surrendering around 5:30 p.m, a Los Angeles Police Department source told Fox News Digital.
Gale was identified and charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery of two women at a convenience store in Framingham, Massachusetts, near Boston, in 1989.
Authorities publicly identified him in connection with the crimes in May.
Gale lived in several other states, used multiple aliases and previously had ties to organized crime, but efforts to locate him were unsuccessful, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said at the time.
Investigators said Gale entered the Hit or Miss Store on Dec. 27, 1989, showed a .357 Magnum handgun and forced two female employees to the back of the store.
He forced them to take off their clothes and placed them in separate rooms, authorities said.
“He sexually assaulted both women while holding the gun to their heads,” Ryan’s office said. “When the suspect returned to the front of the store, the victims fled out the rear fire door to a nearby home.”
Evidence was collected at the scene and a DNA sample was later obtained. A DNA profile was developed in 2001, but failed to match with anyone in law enforcement databases.
Authorities later identified Gale as the suspected rapist through forensic genetic genealogy.
In addition to the two rapes at gunpoint, Gale was wanted for questioning in connection with a series of rapes that occurred in 1989 and 1990, the US Marshals Service said.
Massachusetts
Mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod said to be largest in Massachusetts history
Rescuers were working to save around 30 bottlenose dolphins that got stranded off the coast of Cape Cod early Monday morning. It is the largest known stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The dolphins had become stranded between First Light and Ellis Landing in Brewster at about 5:30 a.m. when they came in with the tide. A woman noticed the animals and reported it. The IFAW quickly responded to the area, but five to six of the marine mammals died before help arrived.
The IFAW worked throughout the day on Monday to get the mammals away from the shoreline before the next low tide at 5:13 p.m. They said late Monday afternoon that they were still successfully being steered away.
“Our team remains in the area to monitor and herd the animals away from shore,” an IFAW spokesperson said. “We know these events can sometimes repeat in the coming hours and days, but we remain hopeful.”
The organization said it had seen an uptick in bottlenose dolphins becoming stranded off Cape Cod in the last few years.
“Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species,” the spokesperson said.
They asked that anyone who encounters a stranded or distressed marine mammal not get close and never drag or push the animal back into the water.
“Similar to a person involved in a car accident, dolphins can become injured and exhausted during a stranding event,” the IFAW said.
Instead, they recommend calling their IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
A man has died following an apparent drowning at a pond in Randolph, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
The Randolph police and fire departments received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. for a swimmer in distress in the water on Pond Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office..
Firefighters located the man a short time later, officials added, and he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kingston Fire Department had said just before 4 p.m. that their dive team was activated for a missing swimmer in Randolph, but that the activation was canceled after the swimmer was located.
Further information is not being released at this time, including the man’s name.
Massachusetts State Police detectives and the Randolph Police Department are investigating.
Firefighters in Lawrence, Massachusetts are working to contain a fire that damaged at least three buildings on Sunday afternoon.
Lawrence Fire Chief Patrick Delaney said they received multiple 911 calls about the buildings on fire at the intersection of Haverhill and Margin Street at about 12:45 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, there were three occupied multi-family buildings with heavy fire.
“Crews did an excellent job once they arrived on scene to make sure we did a primary search of all three buildings, make sure everybody was out,” Chief Delaney said.
No injuries have been reported. It is unclear how many people have been displaced from the three buildings that were on fire.
Chief Delaney said the firefighters were impacted by the hot weather.
“The crews are working extremely hard, they’re taking a lot of heat in all three fire buildings and we’re trying to get crews in here to make sure that they’re safe and give them some relief,” Chief Delaney said.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters from other nearby communities responded for mutual aid.
“We’re at a fourth alarm which brings a lot of resources to our city, but they’re well needed in a fire like this,” Chief Delaney said.
Police are asking residents to avoid the area of Haverhill Street at Margin Street because of the fire.
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city about 30 miles north of Boston.
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