Max Melitzer, who had been living on the streets since 1990, was set to inherit his brother’s $100,000 estate yesterday. But a cousin reports that Melitzer didn’t show up at the Albany, NY, bus station where he was due to meet him.

Melitzer, who was tracked down by private investigators hired by his brother’s family, had been on the streets since a 1990 car accident that killed his wife and two friends, according to reports. His brother, Morris Melitzer, was a GE plant worker who died of pancreatic cancer in 2010.

When the 1:15 bus pulled into the Albany Bus Terminal on Thursday [Cousin Richard] Goldfarb greeted Max as he came off the bus; however, after asking him a couple of questions he realized it was not Max that he was talking to and that his real cousin never got off the bus.

“I feel like a fool. I hadn’t seen him in 55 years and thought he just got cleaned up and shaved. It’s just unbelievable I’m flabbergasted and I don’t know what to say” says Goldfarb.

Immediately after the case of mistaken identity Goldfarb got on the phone to the private investigator in Utah in an effort to re-trace the bus route Max was on.

Melitzer was reportedly seen boarding the correct bus in Utah, and Goldfarb says the family is now retracing all stops along the bus route to try to track him down.

Homeless man doesn’t show up to collect inheritance [WRGB Channel 6 News]

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