A private investigator says he has tracked down a homeless Utah man and delivered some good news: He's inherited a lot of money.
David Lundberg said he found Max Melitzer pushing a shopping cart filled with personal possessions in a Salt Lake City park Saturday afternoon.
Lundberg declined to disclose how much money Melitzer will receive, but said the man's brother died of cancer last year and left him a "significant" amount in his will.
Melitzer was "in shock" after learning of the inheritance, Lundberg said.
Lundberg was hired by the family's New York law firm to locate Melitzer, and some family members plan to meet Melitzer next week in Salt Lake City, the investigator said.
Melitzer has been on the streets for years, floating between Salt Lake City and Ogden and becoming somewhat of a fixture among social service providers such as the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake City, The Deseret News reported.
Melitzer's family wishes to remain private, and lawyers are deferring questions to Lundberg.
"He'd have money where he could take care of himself or hire someone to take care of him," Lundberg said earlier. "Apparently, he does have some emotional issues. The family just wants to make sure he's set up and he's taken care of."
Melitzer last had mail correspondence with his family in September. But when family members gave him a number to phone, he never called.
Salvage yard
Don Hill, house manager at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, told Lundberg on Friday that he had seen Melitzer near the facility two days earlier.
Hill said he has known the homeless man for four years.
"During the summer, I'd imagine, once in a while he'll stay out nights — outside," Hill told the Deseret News. "He's always talking about staying at Ogden."
Earlier this month, a police officer found Melitzer sleeping in a car in an Ogden salvage yard.