Murder suspect found in missing Florida Lyft driver’s car

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — A car belonging to a missing 74-year-old Florida Lyft driver has been found in North Carolina, and the man who was driving is wanted in connection with a murder last week in southwest Florida , the authorities said. Friday.

Lyft driver Gary Levine has not been heard from since Monday, when his family said he picked up a client in Delray Beach, Florida. His red 2022 Kia Stinger was spotted that day in Miami and then in rural areas north of Lake Okeechobee and then in northern Florida, officials said.

The car was spotted Thursday night in North Carolina after the US Marshal’s Regional Task Force asked authorities to be on the lookout. Matthew Flores has been arrested following a three-county police chase in Rutherford County, North Carolina, Sheriff Aaron Ellenburg told The Associated Press.

Ellenburg said NC State Troopers used stop sticks to stop the car at Ellenboro. The sheriff said Flores briefly fled on foot before being apprehended and taken to the hospital for examination. According to the sheriff, he was later sent to the county jail, and the car was taken to a safe place.

Flores was held without bail for a parole violation and $615,000 bail for North Carolina charges that include evading law enforcement, speeding, and drunk driving.

An extradition hearing was scheduled Friday for Florida, where he is suspected of murder on January 24, almost a week before Levin went missing on Monday. It was not immediately known whether Flores had a lawyer who could act on his behalf.

Authorities are investigating how Flores got the missing Lyft driver’s car — Levin’s family said they don’t know if Flores was the passenger Levin picked up at Delray Beach on Monday. John Eason, police chief in Vochula, Florida, told the AP in a phone interview that officers are heading to North Carolina in hopes of questioning Flores about the January 24 murder and the missing Lyft driver.

“Our biggest concern at the moment is to find and locate Mr. Levine,” Eason said. “A lot depends on whether the suspect is cooperating with us.”

Flores faces charges of second-degree murder and other charges related to last month’s death of Jose Carlos Martinez in Vouchula. Stephanie Velgara, the woman Eason says helped Flores escape the police, will be charged with being an accessory to Martinez’s murder.

It was not immediately clear whether Velgara had a lawyer who could speak on her behalf. Eason said she remained in custody at the Hardy County Jail in Florida on Friday.

Vochula is about 70 miles (112 km) southeast of Tampa and about 127 miles (204 km) northwest of Levine’s home in Palm Beach Gardens.

On Friday, Lyft did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment for Levin.

But Levin’s daughter, Lindsey DiBetta, told the AP that the family learned that Levin drove an unknown client to Okeechobee, a small town on the shores of Lake Okeechobee, and completed the trip sometime after 4:00 pm on Monday.

She said Lyft informed the family that the ride was completed sometime after 4 p.m. He also spoke to friends on the phone around 4 p.m. that day, and “everything looked good,” Dibetta said.

But something went wrong almost immediately, she said. His phone was switched off and no one has heard from him since.

DiBetta said working at Lyft was great for Levin, who loves to tell dad jokes and often tells them over and over again. “It was the perfect setup for him. He will have a new audience every trip,” she said.

She said her father was a bodybuilder before he retired to Florida and that his car “was his brainchild”.

“What happened to my dad? (Flores) harmed my father?” Dibetta said. “We just don’t know.”

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