PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A 74-year-old Lyft driver from South Florida never returned home after he picked up some passengers earlier this week, and now his daughter is asking for help in finding him.
Lindsay DiBetta said she’s worried sick about her father, Palm Beach Gardens resident Gary Levin.
“It doesn’t add up at all,” she said.
DiBetta said he hasn’t been heard from since Monday afternoon.
“Lyft said, at this point, they can only share that he was active on the app at 1:22 p.m.,” said DiBetta. “They won’t tell us, like, did he pick someone up? Did he drop someone off? Like, we don’t know who this person is.”
DiBetta said her father’s car is a red 2022 Kia Stinger with the license plate 81ABTY.
Highway scans show Levin’s vehicle was in Miami, Okeechobee County, Sumpter County and near Gainesville.
“I can’t imagine him going and picking someone up in Miami and then going to Okeechobee,” said DiBetta. “That would be, like, he would let his girlfriend know. They had dinner plans on Monday night, and he never came home. He would let her know, like, ‘Hey, I’m driving from Palm Beach Gardens to Miami, then to Okeechobee.'”
DiBetta said her father’s phone has been off since 2 p.m., Tuesday.
“In my mind, it makes me feel like someone took his car,” she said.
Police said Levin hasn’t made any threats to himself, and he doesn’t have any known medical conditions. He stands about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs around 160 pounds.
“He is, like, 100% a technology guy. He’s always posting on Facebook, and he also uses his GPS for everything, on his phone,” said DiBetta, “so it doesn’t make sense that he would be driving the Lyft car and not even have his GPS going on.”
Officials with Lyft said they’ve been in touch with Levin’s family to offer support, and they’re ready to assist law enforcement with their investigation.
A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper said officers stopped a man who took police on a chase through McDowell County and into Rutherford and found that he was driving a red Kia Stinger with a Florida license plate.
DiBetta has confirmed that the car belongs to her father.
According to police, the man identified inside the car was Matthew Scott Flores, who is wanted for murder in Hardee County.
No word yet on what charges Flores faces.
Although the vehicle has been found, there was no sign of Levin.
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