The search volunteer who helped recover Alaskan Bush People star Matt Brown’s body from a Washington river is now revealing heartbreaking new details about the final days before the reality star’s death including the emotional role Matt’s girlfriend, Jaime, played in the search effort.

Matt Brown’s body was recovered from the Okanogan River on May 31 after he had been reported missing just days earlier. His brother, Bear Brown, later confirmed that Matt died by suicide, saying the family was devastated by the loss.

Now, family friend and rescue volunteer Chay Wilkerson Moore has shared new insight into the emotional struggles Matt was facing in the weeks leading up to his death.

Speaking about his last interaction with Matt less than three weeks before the tragedy, Moore said the former reality star appeared overwhelmed by several painful situations happening at once. Among them was a devastating breakup with his girlfriend Jaime, something Moore said was “definitely on his mind.”

“[He] broke up with his girlfriend,” Moore explained. “All of these things hit him at the same time on that day.”

Moore also revealed that Matt had been struggling after his truck broke down, leaving him unable to travel and forcing him to rely on buses and walking between towns.

“He couldn’t get his pickup truck running,” Moore recalled. “That was part of his frustration… he can’t go on his trip.”

Despite the emotional strain between them, Moore said Jaime became one of the driving forces behind the desperate search effort once Matt disappeared.

“Matt’s girlfriend was really, really pushing us hard to get it moving and get out there on that water,” Moore said. “I think she had a notion of where she thought he was.”

According to Moore, Jaime sat aboard one of the small boats used during the volunteer-led river search, helping guide the effort alongside rescuers using kayaks and narrow fishing boats to slowly navigate the dangerous current.

“She basically spearheaded the searchers on that river,” he added.

The rescue operation came together after witnesses reportedly saw a man floating face down in the river. Moore assembled a small volunteer team after local authorities completed their initial search efforts. The group entered the water using two kayaks and a small fishing boat without engines, believing larger boats or helicopters would make spotting someone in the fast-moving brown water nearly impossible.

After traveling roughly 3.5 miles from the reported entry point, one volunteer finally spotted what appeared to be a brown jacket bobbing through the water — the same jacket Matt had been wearing when he disappeared.

“Brown water and brown jacket… very difficult to spot,” Moore said.

He described the recovery as deeply emotional for everyone involved. Volunteers reportedly feared the current would carry Matt farther downstream, so they made the difficult decision to bring his body into the boat immediately rather than waiting for authorities.

When the boat finally reached shore, Moore said Matt’s younger brother, Noah Brown, helped retrieve and identify him.

“Noah was still in a surreal state of disbelief,” Moore shared.

Jaime, meanwhile, was “very overwhelmed with emotions,” according to Moore, as volunteers comforted her near the riverbank during the recovery.

Matt Brown appeared on Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People from 2014 until his departure from the series in 2018. In the years that followed, he openly struggled with addiction and personal battles, which his family later acknowledged publicly after his death.

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