Whitney Purvis — introduced to viewers as a teen mom in the debut season of MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” — is currently being held at Georgia’s Floyd County Jail on multiple charges, including involuntary manslaughter. Her arrest comes one month after the death of her son Weston Owen Gosa Jr., whom she was pregnant with during the series.
According to arrest records from Floyd County, obtained by TODAY.com, the 33-year-old was taken into custody on July 7, 2025. She faces charges of involuntary manslaughter as well as the manufacture and distribution of controlled substances. An additional charge alleges that she used a communication device to aid a drug-related crime. Purvis is currently being held without bond in the jail’s medical unit.
Purvis was part of the inaugural cast of the groundbreaking MTV series, which debuted in 2009, and set out to offer a candid portrayal of becoming a teen mom. She was 16 when she appeared in the fifth episode of the show’s first season. Her episode, titled “Whitney,” dove into the financial toll and social repercussions of becoming pregnant at the age of 16 by her then-boyfriend. The episode followed her journey through pregnancy into the birth of her son and her efforts to juggle her parental responsibilities.
On June 2, 2025, Purvis announced the death of Gosa Jr. at the age of 16 in a post on Facebook in which she described his death as her “worst nightmare come true.”
“How do you go on in life after losing a child?” she wrote in the post. “I’m in disbelief, this cannot be happening. I don’t want it to be real. I would do anything just to hold him. Words just can’t describe the pain I am feeling.”
Further details regarding Purvis’ case are forthcoming.
