RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA) – A man wanted for murder in Florida was arrested Thursday evening following a chase in Rutherford County.
According to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, multiple agencies were assisting in a multi-county vehicle pursuit involving a murder suspect, 35-year-old Matthew Scott Flores.
Deputies said the pursuit entered Rutherford County on U.S. Highway 64 and continued through Bostic and Ellenboro.
The pursuit ended by officers using a pursuit intervention technique. However, Flores got out of the vehicle and took off running.
Following a short foot chase, deputies arrested Flores. He was wanted in both North Carolina and Florida.
The vehicle Flores was driving belonged to a 74-year-old Lyft driver reported missing in Florida this week, the driver’s daughter told NBC affiliate WPTV.
The driver, Gary Levin, has not been heard from since leaving to pick up a customer on Monday. His family said it is not known if he picked them up or completed the ride.
“For him to go completely off the map, that’s not at all normal,” Lindsay DiBetta, Levin’s daughter, told WPTV.
According to our sister station WFLA, Flores was on the run for over a week after he allegedly shot and killed Jose Carlos Martinez in Wauchula, Florida on Jan. 24. He was charged with second-degree murder in connection to the incident.
He has been charged with the following:
North Carolina
• parole violation
• fugitive
• felony speed to elude arrest
• DWI
Florida
• second-degree murder
• possession of firearm by convicted felon
• discharge firearm in public
• violation of supervised pretrial release
Flores is currently being held in the Rutherford County Detention Center without bond for the Parole Violation and a total of $615,000 secured bond on the remaining North Carolina charges.