HOUSTON -- A family found a man's body in a pile of trash, KPRC Local 2 reported.

"I couldn't believe it," said Jorge Garcia. "I was shocked ... never thought this would have happened to my dad."

Garcia said he's gotten used to seeing the same thing out his living room window – overflowing piles of trash sitting for over a month. Garcia and his neighbors said the trash is debris from remodeling after Hurricane Ike.

Garcia, 23, said he blames the piles for his dad's death.

"I seen my dad's jacket floating and I just figured, what would it be doing there?" said Garcia. Behind one of the piles, under debris in a watery ditch, Garcia saw something he'll never forget. His dad's body was face down in the ditch.

"I jumped in and pulled him out," said Garcia. "I saw his face. He was already gone."

Family members said 49-year-old Marcelino Garcia could have been there overnight. It wasn't uncommon for him to come home late and be the first one to leave for work.

"Some debris was on top of him, that's why nobody saw him on time or sooner to rescue him and save him," said Marcelino Garcia's ex-wife, Maria.

"If this trash hadn't been there, we would have noticed him in the ditch," said Jorge Garcia.

The family said they'd called the city to pick up the trash.

"We told them plenty of times," said Jorge Garcia.

"We can't find any record of calls from that address," said Harry Hayes, the director of solid waste. "If we do get a report of storm debris, crews typically go out 24 to 48 hours later to clean up."

This family is left wondering if Marcelino Garcia's death could have been prevented.

"That guy would take shirt off his back for you," said brother-in-law Rudy Delgado.

Hayes said all of the debris would be picked up within 48 hours.

The Medical Examiner's Office is still working to determine an exact cause of death.