Member of Alaskan Bush People star Matt Brown’s rescue team details emotional mission to find him

Brown's body was recovered on May 30 in Washington's Okanogan River.

By Sharareh Drury

June 3, 2026 2:25 p.m. ET

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Matt Brown. Credit:

Matt Brown/Instagram

- The body of Matt Brown, 42, was recovered Saturday in Washington's Okanogan River.

- Chay Wilkerson Moore detailed the challenging search to find Brown along the river.

- Brown starred on *Alaskan Bush People* from 2014 until 2019, when he exited amid his public struggles with addiction.

New details have emerged regarding the challenging rescue mission to find *Alaskan Bush People *star Matt Brown.

Brown, who starred on the Discovery Channel series, was found dead in Washington on May 30. He was 42. Local authorities recovered his body from Washington's Okanogan River. His family shared their belief that Brown ended his own life after a history with substance abuse and estrangement from his family.**

Chay Wilkerson Moore, who led the search party to find Brown, told the US Sun how the group worked tirelessly to search for him by the Okanogan River. Among the search party was Brown's girlfriend Jaime and his brother Noah Brown.**

"A very personal friend of mine called me and told me that Matt said he was on a mission from Jesus," Moore told the outlet. "And we had no clue what any of this meant."

Moore said he waited until after the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office conducted their own search before he took to social media to find volunteers for a rescue mission.**

'Alaskan Bush People' star Matt Brown.

Matt Brown/Instagram

"Basically, we had four people, and they brought whatever we could find, which were kayaks from Walmart," Moore explained. "I mean, we literally had two kayaks and a little narrow fishing boat. In fact, I felt that I was too big to get in the fishing boat to assist because, you know, I’m a pretty big guy.”

Moore said the search party's familiarity with the Okanogan River and surrounding area made them feel "quite confident" they'd locate Brown.

Navigating a fast-moving river in kayaks, which Moore described as "a very tedious situation, the group eventually located Brown's body by first spotting a brown jacket he had been wearing when he disappeared bobbing in the water.

'Alaskan Bush People' star Matt Brown.

Matt Brow/Instagram

The search party felt "a lot of emotions" upon discovering Brown's body, according to Moore.

"From that point, they approached the body, and they loaded it into the boat, which isn’t a normal practice for us," Moore said. "We normally call the Sheriff, have them deal with it. But, being that the current was there, they were afraid that they would lose him. And if he went down that river, we would not find him."

He added, "And being that they were very close to Matt, I think that their adrenaline kicked in and they loaded him into the boat."

Moore said Brown's brother Noah was "in a surreal state of disbelief" upon discovering the body while his girlfriend Jaime "was very overwhelmed with emotions."**

'Alaskan Bush People' family pay tribute to Matt Brown after his death at 42

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The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office in Washington detailed its investigation into an unidentified man in a press release last week. "A caller reported to Okanogan 911 that he had just spoken to a male sitting in the shallow water of the Okanogan River south of Oroville," the release read. "The caller turned away from the man sitting in the river, heard a sound, turned back toward the man in the water, and saw the man was face down in the water drifting away in the current."

The release also noted that "a firearm was recovered from the water in the area where the male was last seen."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

On Monday, Brown's family released a statement paying tribute to his memory.

"It is with broken hearts that we share the loss of our beloved son, brother, uncle, and friend, Matthew Brown," the Instagram statement from the family 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."

The reality star was praised for being "intelligent, curious, creative, and endlessly fascinated by the world around him," with his family describing him as "a gifted outdoorsman, fisherman, boatman, artist, and lifelong learner."

Alongside his parents and six siblings, Brown appeared on the 14-season reality series about the their life off the grid in Alaska and, later, Washington. Matt exited the show in 2019 while publicly struggling with addiction.**

*If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.*

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Source: “EW Celebrity”