Reality TV Star Matt Brown Found in River at 43

The search for Alaskan Bush People star Matthew Brown ended on Saturday, May 30, 2026, when a group of private citizens discovered his body in the Okanogan River in Washington. The 43-year-old was recovered and positively identified at the scene, with his brother Noah Brown present as part of the search effort.

According to the Okanogan County Sheriff Office, the body was brought to shore and transferred to the custody of the Okanogan County Coroner. Sheriff Jodie Barcus extended condolences to the family while declining to release further details pending the coroner’s investigation into the cause and manner of death.

Noah confirmed the grim discovery in a statement, revealing he’d been working alongside search and rescue groups for days.“For the past couple of days, I’ve been working with search and rescue groups trying to locate the body and today at 3:27, the group that I was working with located the missing body and I identified it as Matthew,”he said.“I was there when we pulled him out of the river.”

Bear Brown, Matthew’s brother, shared the news on TikTok, speculating that the death was self-inflicted while acknowledging he’d always feared his oldest sibling would struggle more visibly with addiction.“I was so worried that he would end up ODed or something like that,”Bear said.“I didn’t think he would hurt himself.”He also used the moment to urge people to show compassion online, noting that the negativity Matthew had mentioned in his final social media posts hits harder than people often realize.

The reality TV family is now grieving privately as authorities complete their investigation. For anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide or crisis, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 988, or online at 988lifeline.org.