Matt Brown‘s cause of death at 43 has been determined days after the “Alaskan Bush People” star’s family announced his body had been recovered in Washington state.
Brown’s manner of death was determined to be suicide, the Okanogan County Coroner confirmed to USA TODAY on June 3. The cause was a gunshot wound, and contributing circumstances included being “under the influence of methamphetamine” and his “subsequent immersion” in a river.
TMZ was first to report the news.
Previously, his brother Bear Brown confirmed in a video posted to his verified social media channels in the early hours of May 31 that his missing sibling’s body had been recovered.
“They found a body in the river a few hours ago, and it was positively identified as being Matt,” Bear told supporters in an emotional update. Their brother Noah “helped them pull the body out of the water, and Noah identified him.”
Matt Brown rose to fame during his time on Discovery Channel’s “Alaskan Bush People,” which ran for 14 seasons from 2014 until 2022. The series followed the Brown family’s life in remote Alaska.
A screengrab of a post from Matt Brown’s Instagram account published on May 6, 2024.
“I would have never suspected he would have hurt himself, honestly. He struggled for a long time,” Bear said. “It does look as though the injury is self-inflicted.”
Hours later, Noah Brown confirmed in his own social media video that he was part of the search-and-rescue group that retrieved the body of his oldest brother, who had his ID and Social Security card on him.
Bear pointedly asked followers to “please, please be respectful to my family and to my mom, and please watch the comments that you leave, guys.”
“One of [Matt’s] last videos, he’s actually talking about how negative people were on his posts,” Bear said. “Keep in mind that people on the other side of your screen, people that you’re watching a video of, they’re real people, too. … Leave as many negative comments about me as you want, but please leave my family out of it.”
Family had feared for days that Matt Brown was dead
In a video shared May 28, Bear Brown explained that he had been told “Matt took his own life” after being spotted near a river in Okanogan County in Washington.
“Witnesses say that he was seen in a river, at a river or close to a river,” he said, adding police had been unable to find a body. At the time, he said, “I can’t confirm it 100%, but it looks like” it is Matt.
In one of their last conversations, Bear Brown said, Matt told him “he had fallen off the wagon.”
“I was like, ‘Well, get back on it, man. Everybody falls off. Just get back on it. Go to rehab if you’ve got to. You’ve got this,'” Bear said, adding that public speculation Matt’s family “shunned him” is false.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org. Crisis Text Line also provides free, 24/7, confidential support via text message to people in crisis when they dial 741741.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Alaskan Bush People’ star Matt Brown’s cause of death revealed
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
