Matt Brown Cause Of Death Ruled Suicide After River Recovery

Matt Brown cause of death was ruled a suicide by the Okanogan County Coroner, who said the Alaskan Bush People alum died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The ruling arrives days after his body was pulled from a river in Washington, giving an official explanation for the death at 42.

Okanogan County ruling

The coroner said methamphetamine was in Brown’s system at the time of his death, and that subsequent immersion in water also played a factor. That combination turns the case from a missing-person recovery into a more specific account of how Brown died, with the gunshot wound listed as the cause and the drug and water exposure named alongside it.

Brown’s body was recovered on Saturday, and Noah Brown was among those on the scene when it was pulled from the river. The sequence matters because it places the family and the official finding on the same timeline: recovery first, then the cause of death days later.

Bear Brown post

Two days before the body was recovered, Bear Brown posted on social media that he believed his brother had died. He also said witnesses told him they saw Matt Brown take his own life, and wrote, “He has been struggling for a long time with alcohol and drugs,” before adding that Matt had told him he had “fallen off the wagon.”

Bear Brown later said, “I would have never thought that Matt would take his own life.” That account sits alongside the coroner’s ruling and Brown’s earlier exit from Alaskan Bush People because of ongoing addiction issues, making substance use part of the public record around his death rather than a side note.

Family statement on Monday

On Monday, the family posted a statement saying, “It is with broken hearts that we share the loss of our beloved son, brother, uncle, and friend, Matthew Brown,” and added, “To millions of viewers, Matt was known as one of the original stars of Alaskan Bush People. To us, he was so much more.” They described him as “intelligent, curious, creative, and endlessly fascinated by the world around him,” and called him “a gifted outdoorsman, fisherman, boatman, artist, and lifelong learner.”

The statement also said, “we do not believe any person’s life should be defined solely by their lowest moments.” For viewers, the final record is now fixed: Brown, one of the original stars of a series that ran for 14 seasons and ended in 2022, died by suicide, with methamphetamine and immersion in water listed as factors in the coroner’s finding.