The Okanogan County Coroner has ruled that “Alaskan Bush People” star Matt Brown died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with methamphetamine influence and immersion in water also cited as contributing factors.
For days, the family had carried the same painful suspicion: that Matt Brown didn’t simply pass away—he took his own life.
On Saturday, Matt Brown’s body was pulled from a river in Washington. His younger brother Noah was among those on the scene. Two days earlier. another brother. Bear. had posted on social media saying he believed witnesses had seen Matt take his own life. The grief didn’t wait for answers. It arrived first as a question, then as something harder to deny.
Now, those suspicions have been replaced by an official determination.
The Okanogan County Coroner has ruled that Matt Brown died as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The coroner also said that, at the time of his death, Matt was under the influence of methamphetamine, and that “subsequent immersion in water” played a factor.
The last weekend of his life has been described in fragments—who was there, what was believed to have happened, when the family first shared their fear. What the ruling changes is the clarity of what came next for everyone left behind: the reality that there was no mystery about intent.
Matt Brown was known by millions from Discovery Channel’s “Alaskan Bush People. ” which aired for 14 seasons before signing off in 2022. The show followed the extended Brown family as they lived off the grid together in Alaska. Matt had previously exited the series because of ongoing addiction issues.
Bear had already spoken openly about the struggle he believed his older brother had been fighting. He asked people to stop sending money to Matt. saying he was using it on “vices” and needed to go to rehab. “He has been struggling for a long time with alcohol and drugs,” Bear said of Matt. Bear also insisted he “encouraged [Matt] to stay on his path and keep on his sobriety. ” and he said the family hadn’t shunned him.
In their last conversation, Bear shared that Matt told him he’d “fallen off the wagon.” Bear said Matt had also gone through a bad breakup and “been drinking too much.” Still, Bear admitted that he “would have never thought that Matt would take his own life.”
That sentence lands differently now that the coroner’s findings are public: methamphetamine influence, a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and immersion in water all connected in an official account.
The sequence of events—Matt being pulled from a river. Bear’s early belief that he took his own life. and the later coroner ruling—has left the family’s words fixed in a new light. What started as fear and witness-based suspicion became a documented cause. turning private grief into something the public must now hold.
On Monday, the family released an emotional statement on Instagram to mark Matt Brown’s death. “It is with broken hearts that we share the loss of our beloved son. brother. uncle. and friend. Matthew Brown. ” the post began. “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 praised him as “intelligent. curious. creative. and endlessly fascinated by the world around him. ” adding that he was “a gifted outdoorsman. fisherman. boatman. artist. and lifelong learner.” The statement acknowledged the messier parts of living—“mistakes. struggles. and painful chapters”—but also pushed back against a reduction of a full life to its worst moment. “We do not believe any person’s life should be defined solely by their lowest moments.”.
The post ended with a support message for people struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, or substance use problems, directing readers to call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org 24/7.
For Matt Brown’s family, the new details don’t change what happened to him on the weekend. They change what comes after: the kind of questions that can no longer be softened by uncertainty. and the reality that everyone who loved him now has to carry the evidence that the warning signs were met with loss.
Matt Brown Alaskan Bush People Okanogan County Coroner suicide ruling self-inflicted gunshot wound methamphetamine influence immersion in water Bear Brown Noah Brown