NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Landon Eastep left his hometown to get clean and start over.
In 2019, he settled into Nashville after leaving Greene County, Tennessee. Around that time, he lived with Billy Moore in a sober living community.
"He was just a really good guy," said Moore.
Moore said Eastep was loyal and generous. He said showed up to every meeting, wanted to be a mentor and was the kind of person who paid it forward.
Recently, the 37-year-old relapsed, and friends said his marriage turned toxic. Those issues in his personal life, friends believe, led him to walk onto the interstate.
"I hate that he felt like he needed to make that decision. I just can't imagine. I always thought like I had somebody or somewhere to go, and for him to feel like he didn't have that, knowing that so many people love him because he's such a good dude, blows my mind," Moore said.
Estep had other supportive friends in Nashville, including a friend named Alma.
"He knew he could come here for anything, so when he had nowhere to go he would just come here watch TV or watch a movie," Alma said.
But in the days leading up to his dramatic death on Interstate 65, Alma and her husband noticed a difference in their friend, who she described as goofy.
"He used to just laugh and joke around. He didn't do that anymore. He wasn't himself," Alma said.
Eastep leaves behind a 16-year-old son who lives in East Tennessee with Eastep's sister Michelle Postell. According to Postell, even an enraged animal doesn't deserve to be shot and killed by nine police officers the way her brother was.
