Man Found Dead by Neighbor

The body of a 47-year-old Santa Ana man was found Saturday morning in a van by a neighbor, police and neighbors said.

Carlos V. Rodriguez, who had been sleeping in the van while staying with a local family, died about 6 a.m. from natural causes, said Jill Abbott, an Orange County coroner’s investigator. He had suffered severe gastrointestinal bleeding, she said.

Neighbors said Rodriguez was an alcoholic and had been staying with the Garcia family in the 1100 block of South Harmon Street. He often waved to passersby and was seen watering the family’s lawn, neighbors said. Recently Rodriguez had been spending nights in his van, instead of in the house, they said. Saturday, his shoes and clothes sat piled inside the van next to an open beer can and bloodstains.

Jaime Bedolla, 19, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was walking to a friend’s house about 10:30 a.m. when he noticed blood on the van’s side door.

“I looked inside and saw him lying down face first, on a pillow or something,” Bedolla said. Bedolla called police, who along with coroner’s officials cordoned off the street for several hours to investigate the death.