Man tied to dead Florida Lyft driver charged in separate case

A man who police say was driving the car of a dead South Florida Lyft driver was charged with murder and other counts Tuesday in a separate case. A grand jury in Hardee County indicted Matthew Flores, 35, on charges of first-degree murder, grand theft auto, possession of a firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to court records. The indictment relates to the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 43-year-old Jose Carlos Martinez in Wauchula. Police were actively searching for Flores in that case by Jan. 30, when Lyft driver Gary Levin, 74, went missing after dropping off a customer in Okeechobee, a small city north of Florida's Lake Okeechobee and about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east of Wauchula.