The search for “Alaskan Bush People” star Matt Brown has been called off due to severe weather amid reports that the TV personality might be dead.
According to a Saturday press release from the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office, officials have suspended their search efforts in Washington’s Okanogan River — where an unidentified man is said to have gone missing.
They explained that river conditions, including water levels, were too dangerous following fresh rainfall.
Authorities no longer believe that the individual would even be found in that specific area of water due to to the high currents.
On Friday, personnel from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, divers, and cadaver dogs scaled the river for any signs of the person. Despite their efforts, they were unable to locate anyone.
Now, the sheriff’s office is hoping to gain additional knowledge that could narrow down the search area.
The update come on the heels of Brown’s brother, Bear Brown, taking to social media to tell followers he fears his older sibling is dead.
In his Thursday TikTok video, Bear, 38, said he was told that Matt, 43, “took his own life.”
While Bear couldn’t confirm the news, he said that the former reality star was spotted “floating down the river.”
He alleged someone called the cops which led to their search efforts.
“All the witnesses are saying that it was Matt,” Bear insisted. “Someone definitely did, and a lot of people are thinking that it’s him. … It looks like it is. … It’s looking very likely that it is the case.”
The distraught family member revealed that the eldest of the bunch “has been struggling for a long time with alcohol and with drugs.”
He claimed Matt was estranged from the family by his own doing.
Bear and Matt last ran into one another at Walmart “a bit ago.”
“That was the last time I saw him,” Bear recounted. “And he called me after that, and he said that he had fallen off the wagon. And I was like, ‘Well, get back on it, man. Everybody falls off. Just get back on it. Go to rehab if you’ve got to. You got this. You’ve fought it a lot before.’”
He added that he had heard his brother was going through a “really bad breakup” and possibly drinking too much.
That day, insiders told TMZ that their other brother, Gabe, was seen talking with officers during their search efforts.
Gabe is one of the few family members not estranged from Matt.
Prior to Bear’s video, the sheriff’s office issued a press release that stated someone called 911 on Wednesday claiming they spoke to a man who was seated in the shallow part of the Okanogan River.
“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 facedown in the water drifting away in the current,” the press release read.
The statement noted that a gun was later recovered from the area where this unidentified individual was last seen.
Last week, Matt appeared seemingly drunk and/or high as he rambled nude in an alarming livestream uploaded to YouTube.
The Discovery Channel alum was also carrying what appeared to be a gun in the video.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
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