Before the official confirmation, the search had already taken a deeply troubling turn. In dispatch audio released by TMZ, responding personnel could be heard discussing a backpack and phone that had been found, while noting that no body had initially been located.
The audio also referenced an empty holster inside the backpack and a reported revolver believed to have gone into the river. Responders could be heard calling for the scene to be secured as a county boat and dive team were sent to search for the body and the weapon.
Those details were grim, but at that stage, the situation was still developing. Matt’s brother Bear later gave fans a painful update, reiterating in an Instagram video that a body had been found and positively identified as Matt.
Bear said his and Matt’s brother, Noah Brown, was with officials and helped pull the body from the water before identifying him. He also said he never imagined Matt would hurt himself, even though Matt had struggled for a long time.
He explained that he had worried Matt might “end up” overdosing, but said he did not think his brother would end up how he did. Bear added that the injury appeared to be self-inflicted, though he acknowledged that the coroner and officials would be the ones to make formal determinations.
He also asked people to be respectful to his family, especially their mother, and warned fans that online comments can be more damaging than people realize.
“Sometimes, like, words can hurt more than fists can,” Bear said. He then pointed out that one of Matt’s last videos addressed negative comments, reminding viewers that the people they watch online are real human beings on the other side of the screen.
Matt was best known to viewers as one of the original stars of “Alaskan Bush People.” According to IMDb, the show followed naturalist and adventurer Billy Brown, his wife Ami, and their seven children as they chose to live life on their own terms, connected to wild nature and bonded to one another.
Matt Had Always Been Open and Honest About His Struggles
For fans, Matt was part of the family’s earliest TV identity. But behind that rugged public image, he had also spoken openly about addiction, recovery, family pain, and the difficulty of staying on track.
In a 2016 interview with People, Matt said he knew his drinking had become a problem before he entered an inpatient rehabilitation program. “I could see myself spiraling,” he told the outlet at the time.
Matt explained that he began drinking lightly after spending time with friends in town, but it gradually became more frequent, adding that he saw “the problem around the corner” and did not want to become “one of those guys.”
He also admitted that telling his family about his struggles was incredibly difficult. “There was a lot of anxiety. It took a couple days to work up the guts to tell my parents,” he shared, while saying their support was “unbelievable” and made him feel he could succeed.
After 35 days in treatment, Matt said he had gained a new perspective on himself and his future. “I learned a lot about myself in those 35 days. I’ve turned my weakness into a strength,” he said, before adding, “In life, we all get lost every now and then and have to find our way back.”
That quote now feels especially heavy, because Matt continued to speak about recovery publicly in the years that followed. In a May 2024 Instagram video, he marked his sober anniversary and said he had put the bottle down on March 19, 2020.
Matt said he was thinking about how difficult the journey had been and how, after a certain point, it became easier. He also spoke honestly about relapse, saying, “Relapse was part of my recovery. It doesn’t have to be. It was though.”
He told followers that relapsing meant losing days, but not losing experience. Matt said he eventually built enough faith, self-belief, and reason to keep going, and he encouraged others in early recovery not to give up.
“Early recovery is really hard,” Matt said, mentioning the first 30, 60, or 90 days. He ended the message with one of his familiar phrases: “Never give up, never surrender.”
Cut to years later, and Matt’s brother Bear recently said in a TikTok video that he had heard Matt had taken his own life, although he stressed at that point that he could not confirm it “a hundred percent.”
