SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A homeless man whose rags-to-riches story made international headlines once suffered a devastating family tragedy that may have led to his life on the streets of Salt Lake City.
A friend of Max Melitzer tells the Deseret News that he lost his wife and two friends in a July 1990 car crash.
Melitzer was driving through Wyoming when he lost control of his car, the newspaper reports.
Karol Behling (BAY’-ling) says Melitzer was deeply affected by the loss of his wife, Janice. She says Melitzer’s life as a transient seemed to begin after the crash. Behling’s deceased husband knew Melitzer for more than 20 years.
