WAUCHULA, Fla. — A man wanted for murder out of Hardee County is now in custody in North Carolina, according to the Wauchula Police Department.
Investigators caught Matthew Flores after a chase ended in a crash in Rutherford County, which is directly between Charlotte and Asheville. He was reportedly driving the car of a missing 74-year-old Lyft driver from Florida.
The family of Gary Levin, the Lyft driver, says the last anyone heard from him was when he picked up a customer in Delray Beach.
Levin's red 2022 Kia Stinger was spotted in Miami that day, then in a rural area north of Lake Okeechobee and later in north Florida, officials said.
The vehicle was seen Thursday evening in North Carolina after the U.S. Marshal's regional task force asked authorities to be on the lookout. Flores was arrested following a police chase through three counties, Rutherford County, North Carolina Sheriff Aaron Ellenburg told The Associated Press.
Ellenburg said North Carolina state troopers used stop sticks to halt the car in Ellenboro. The sheriff said Flores fled briefly on foot before he was apprehended and taken to a hospital for an evaluation. He was later booked into the county jail, and the vehicle was taken to a secure location, the sheriff said.
Florida investigators are on their way to North Carolina to interrogate Flores on Levin's disappearance.
Wauchula police say the man was already a suspect in a deadly shooting nearly a week before. He will eventually be extradited to Florida.
A woman accused of helping Flores who ran from police has also been arrested, according to investigators.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.