Spoiler Alert – He Dies – 

February 24, 2020 – “He was just this really sweet, no-nonsense person who was committed to justice and equity,” she says. “Even though he was suffering in many ways, he had a very calming presence.”

People close to Beeler describe him as a “blue collar guy” who liked motorcycles and home carpentry, someone who was gentle and endlessly curious. Those qualities could sometimes hide his own struggle with anxiety and depression. Over the next year, Beeler’s other struggle, with opioid addiction, would flicker around the edges of their life together.

Eventually, it killed him.

People on parole and under supervision can face barriers to receiving appropriate treatment for opioid addiction. Ziegenhorn says she believes Andy Beeler’s death is linked to the many obstacles to medical care he experienced while on parole.

@NPR