‘16 and Pregnant’ Star’s Cause of Death Is Revealed: Report

Heavy "Teen Mom" news.

The cause of “16 and Pregnant” star Sean Garinger’s February 28 death has been confirmed.

According to TMZ, the Raleigh, North Carolina Medical Examiner’s office reported Garinger’s “official cause of death is blunt force injury to the head” following an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) incident, which happened on a Boone, North Carolina, property owned by Garinger and his mother, Mary Hobbs. The publication reported that Garinger’s “skull was fractured in multiple places.”

Hobbs described her son’s fatal accident during a March 2024 interview with The U.S. Sun. 

“He was just moving [the ATV] from one parking spot to the next for me, so I could back into park. He pulled [in] front of me to park the ATV and the ground gave way from all the rain and mud,” Hobbs told the outlet.

She told The Sun that she ran “to neighbors trying to get someone to help [her] get the ATV off of him.”

“No one answered. I ran back to him. By that time, I realized he wasn’t alive anymore,” Hobbs told the outlet. “I just laid next to him until the ambulance showed up.”

Hobbs also stated she has had difficulty following her son’s death.

“There was a huge part of my heart that died with my son on Wednesday. He was my only son, my rock, my strength when I had none left,” Hobbs told The Sun.

Sean Garinger’s Ex-Girlfriend, Selena Gutierrez, Opened up About His Death in a March 2024 Interview

Garinger’s ex-girlfriend Selena Gutierrez, the mother of his two children Dareli and Esmi,  opened up about his death in a March 2024 interview with DailyMail.com. 

She said that she and Garinger “weren’t on the best of best terms” before his death, according to the outlet. The mother of two told DailyMail.com that she would get updates about Garinger from Hobbs or her sisters.

“We had finally got on with our lives. We never really talked one on one, it was always through my sisters or his mom and he was doing better. He was over 200 days sober. He had just come to visit the girls a week prior [in Colorado],” Gutierrez told DailyMail.com.

According to Gutierrez, Hobbs had let her know that Garinger “was happier than ever to see” their daughters, the outlet reported. She also said she felt heartbroken for Hobbs, according to DailyMail.com.

“The girls loved him. He was planning to come back and see them on his own,” Gutierrez told the outlet. “I know he was in school. He had got out of rehab and moved with his mom to Carolina. My heart aches for her. I wish we had got to have one more good conversation about everything.”

Gutierrez also shared she was shocked when her sister revealed Garinger had died in February 2024.

“She just looked at me and said ‘Sean’s gone.’ I was like ‘What do you mean?’ She said ‘Sean’s dead.’ I remember just being in shock saying, ‘No way, you’re lying.’ She was like ‘No, [Sean’s mom] just called me,'” recalled Gutierrez to the outlet.

Gutierrez also she was extremely upset about the death of Garinger, who died at 20 years old.

“No matter the circumstances that was my kids’ father. Not only was I with him for nine plus years, he was my first love, my first everything and we had two beautiful daughters that I’ll always be grateful for,” Gutierrez told DailyMail.com. “They didn’t deserve this they need their daddy. I don’t know how I’m going to tell them when they get older.”

Selena Gutierrez Discussed Sean Garinger’s Relationship With His Mother

Gutierrez discussed the nature of Garinger’s relationship with his mother during a 2021 episode of “16 and Pregnant.”

She explained that she and Garinger were in a long-distance relationship until she became pregnant with Dareli. Gutierrez said Garinger felt conflicted about moving away from his mother, who lived in Texas, because she suffered from chronic pain.

During an interview on the “16 and Pregnant” season 6 episode, Hobbs explained that she “had a surgery to correct an injury on [her] jaw” in 2016.

“During the surgery, the trigeminal nerve on both sides of my face were damaged and it is, by far, the worst pain to live in,” said Hobbs. “I’ve been in years of being in the hospital. Treatment. Medications. And now, my only option is to figure out how to live on my own. Or go pick up medication to end my life.”

Garinger also discussed his mother’s condition during the “16 and Pregnant” episode.

“It’s called the suicide disease because people who are usually diagnosed with it, they don’t really last like two years,” said Garinger on the episode. “Because they can’t even handle the pain. So being here it feels like I’m betraying my mom. I know that, like, I need to be here for my baby, but, like, in my eyes, like, I’m always going to have my baby, like, I should be in Texas, like, helping my mom with what she needs help with right now.”

Selena Gutierrez Explained Why She Moved Back With Her Family in Colorado

Gutierrez shared she and Dareli had moved to Arizona with Hobbs and Garinger in a 2021 interview with MTV. She explained why she decided to return to Colorado.

“I like that here I have all my family. And that’s one thing I didn’t have in Arizona. I mainly wanted to come back so I could be with all my family,” Gutierrez told MTV. “Arizona was really boring, kind of. Because it was just me and Mary and Sean all the time. So whenever Sean would be at work, it would be me and the baby alone all the time.”

Gutierrez also shared she wanted to inspire other mothers who had children at a young age.

“I just want to pursue my career. I just want to show other teen moms that it’s possible — like you can still do things even having a kid so young,” said Gutierrez.