JACKSONVILLE — Local law enforcement officials hope the family of a homeless man who was found near-death will come to his aid.

Jacksonville police officials said Antonio Hernandez Melendez, 65-year-old homeless man, was found in bad medical condition in a storage area at the front of an abandoned recycling center on the 600 block of North Bolton on Tuesday.

Police said Melendez was probably dehydrated, bloated with sores and covered in ants and maggots inside the storage area, but, miraculously, he was still alive.

“In 45 years, I've never seen a body that looked like that, smelled like that and was still alive,” Precinct 3 Constable Eddie Lee said.

Patrol Officer Lex Moses said Melendez was discovered when Jose Mares, who runs Express Tire Services next door to the abandoned building, heard someone moaning near the property line at around 11 a.m.

“It has not been in business for years, and he was in there under a lot of beer bottles —  just trash all over the place,” Moses said. “It looked like he kind of made a bed to sleep on, and that is where we found him.”

Melendez was taken to East Texas Medical Center – Jacksonville, where he remains in ICU.

Police Chief Reece Daniel said Melendez is going to need someone to care for him when he gets out of the hospital, and the department hopes to help.

“If we can get someone to come forward, there is a possibility we can get him into a care facility or something like that,” Daniel said.

“It's just going to depend on the family situation,” he said. “Maybe there is something we can do for him because we don't want to see him back on the street with no one to take care of him. You have to have a heart for someone like this.”

Sgt. Jason Price said the department is familiar with Melendez.

“He has been arrested 10 times in the 10 years for public intoxication,” Price said in an email. “Local records show that he has friends in the area but it does not appear that he has family. Records also indicate that he has lived in Jacksonville since at least 1991 and has not always been homeless.  Appears he became homeless around 2007-2008 time period.”

Daniel said he knows of about five homeless people living in the city. He said some are homeless by choice and others by circumstance.

“We don't see this — not in Jacksonville — you have homeless people, but not to the point that they are so ill and down and no one knows they are there,” he said. “That's big city stuff, and you don't find that here ... someone in that kind of shape.”

Residents with any information on Melendez or his family should call the department at 903-586-2546.