‘Alaskan Bush People’ alum Matt Brown’s cause of death revealed
“Alaskan Bush People” alum Matt Brown’s cause of death has been revealed after the former reality star died last month.
According to an autopsy conducted by the Okanogan County Coroner in Washington and obtained by Page Six on Wednesday, Brown’s manner of death was ruled a suicide caused by a single penetrating gunshot wound to the head.
The autopsy noted the contributing circumstances were subsequent immersion in water — in this case, a river — and that he was under the influence of methamphetamine.
Brown’s body will now be released to his family for final arrangements.
On May 27, a witness called 911 after spotting a man, later identified as 43-year-old Brown, wading in the Okanogan River near Oroville, Washington.
The witness briefly turned away, then turned back around after hearing a loud noise. That’s when they saw the man floating facedown in a swift current.
A day later, the ex-Discovery Channel personality’s younger brother Bear Brown announced he had “some really bad news” and had been told that Matt “took his own life.”
Bear, 38, said Matt “was seen in a river, at a river or close to a river” and later “floating down the river” and that someone then called police, who began searching for the body. A gun was later recovered from the area.
“All the witnesses are saying that it was Matt,” Bear lamented. “Someone definitely did, and a lot of people are thinking that it’s him. … It looks like it is. … It’s looking very likely that it is the case.”
Bear claimed his older brother had “been struggling for a long time with alcohol and with drugs” and that he “didn’t want anything to do with the family.”
Bear later confirmed his worst fear.
“They found a body in the river a few hours ago, and it was positively identified as being Matt,” he said in a TikTok update.
Bear revealed his and Matt’s youngest brother, Noah Brown, was the first family member to see the body, as he assisted in the recovery efforts.
“Noah helped them pull the body out of the water, and Noah identified [Matt],” Bear shared, noting that he believed his sibling died by suicide.
However, he “would’ve never thought that Matt would hurt himself.”
Matt was a cast member of Discovery’s reality show “Alaskan Bush People” from its debut in 2014 until 2019.
The series, which concluded in 2022, followed the Brown family’s remote life in the Alaskan wilderness.
