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Florida Lyft driver Gary Levin, aged 74, of Palm Beach County, who went missing, was announced dead on February 8, 2023, by her daughter on social media.
According to officials, Levin disappeared on January 30, 2023, after he was supposed to meet his girlfriend for dinner and never returned home.
A Florida criminal seeking an unrelated murder was apprehended while driving's 2022 Kia Stinger as he tried to elude authorities in North Carolina on the evening of February 2, 2023.
The disappearance of Gary Levin
Gary Levin was last seen alive on surveillance cameras on January 30, entering a Wawa in Boynton Beach, Florida.
According to his family, Levin picked up a customer in Delray Beach, Florida. As per officials, Levin's red 2022 Kia Stinger was seen that day in Miami, in a remote location to the north of Lake Okeechobee, and later in north Florida, according to NBC10 Philadelphia.
Levin's license plate on his red 2022 Kia Stinger was detected by camera readers on February 1, 2023, according to Gainesville police. Palm Beach Gardens police issued a missing person report that night, and the next day it was changed to a person who was missing and in danger.
State troopers arrested Matthew Scott Flores, a 35-year-old suspect, in a slaying that happened in Florida on January 24 after he led them on a high-speed chase through multiple counties in Levin's car.
Flores was wanted in Florida in association with a homicide in Hardee County on January 24 and had to face many counts in that case. He has already served a year and a half in jail in North Carolina for drug and assault-related offenses.
On February 4, 2023, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office revealed that they were investigating the findings of human remains in Okeechobee, Gary Levin's last known location, before disappearing on January 30 while working for the Lyft ride-share service.
On February 7, 2023, the FDLE announced that it had confirmed the identity of the individual discovered in Okeechobee and had informed the person's family. The agency refused to confirm if the remains were Levin's, citing a 2018 state constitutional amendment made after California's Marsy's Law.
Although she did not mention whether the body found was that of her father, Gary Levin's daughter, Lindsay DiBetta, confirmed his father's death in a Facebook post.
Gary Levin is remembered by his girlfriend as a "golden man"
In a live interview with WPTV, girlfriend Kathi Ginsberg mentioned that Gary Levin enjoyed people's company and described him as a "people person." She said:
"He was just, most men aren't like that, but this was a golden man."
The New York Post reported that Levin's daughter Lindsay DiBetta informed that her father retired from the auto-parts business and relocated from Pennsylvania to Florida several years ago. She also mentioned that he started driving for Lyft to pass the time and converse with passengers.
In a Facebook post made by her, DiBetta expressed gratitude to those who offered condolences and requested privacy during the grieving process. She also mentioned that information on services in Gary Levin's honor will be announced in a few days.
