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‘One of a kind’: Daughter of missing South Florida Lyft driver confirms he has died

The daughter of a missing 74-year-old South Florida Lyft driver confirmed Tuesday that he has died.

Gary Levin disappeared after he completed a roughly three-hour, 100-mile ride from Delray Beach to Okeechobee on Jan. 30, his family said. On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed the identity of the human remains found Feb. 4 in Okeechobee County.

“My dad was truly a one of (a) kind person, if you knew him or even met him once you know exactly what I mean when I say that,” Lindsay DiBetta, 36, wrote on Facebook. “The stories I have received about him from friends, family and complete strangers over the last week have lifted me up more than you can ever realize.”

READ MORE: ‘None of it makes sense.’ Missing South Florida Lyft driver’s car used in N.C. chase

His car was at the center of a police chase in North Carolina Thursday, reports say. The man caught driving it was arrested on a warrant out of Hardee County, an FDLE spokesperson told the Miami Herald.

Rutherford County, North Carolina, Sheriff Aaron Ellenburg told the Associated Press Levin’s car, a 2022 red Kia Stinger, was seen in the state on Thursday evening after U.S. Marshals were alerted to be on the lookout.

Matthew Scott Flores, 35, was behind the wheel of the car and is wanted in North Carolina and Florida for multiple felonies, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook. In Florida, he is facing charges of second-degree murder, possession of firearm by convicted felon, discharge firearm in public and violation of supervised pre-trial release.

Details of the charges were not immediately available. After the multi-county police chase, Flores was arrested by authorities and treated for suspected drug use.

Florida authorities haven’t said whether Flores is a suspect in Levin’s death, but FDLE said that the homicide investigation remains active.