Beautyqueen Trinity Poague, 20, faces trial after allegedly killing her boyfriend’s baby because she wanted her own.
A former beauty pageant winner, Trinity Poague, is facing serious criminal charges after her boyfriend’s eighteen-month-old son, Romeo “Jaxton” Angeles, was found unresponsive in her college dorm room earlier this year. The case has shaken the Georgia Southwestern State University community and raised painful questions about what really happened during the little boy’s final moments.
Poague, 20, who once held the Miss Donalsonville title, has pleaded not guilty to charges including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, and cruelty to children. She insists that Jaxton accidentally fell off the bed while his father stepped out to pick up pizza. But investigators and prosecutors say the evidence tells a very different story.
Students living nearby said they heard the toddler crying for a long time the night before the incident. One student, Lilly Waterman, told WRDW that the crying went on for so long that people noticed it, and then “suddenly it just stopped.” No one realized how significant that moment would later become.
The next day around noon, Jaxton’s father, Julian Williams, left the dorm to get pizza. While he was out, Poague called him saying Jaxton was not breathing and she didn’t know what happened. Williams rushed back and immediately drove his son to the hospital. Sadly, Jaxton died later that afternoon.
According to District Attorney Lewis R. Bud Lamb, Jaxton had no injuries when the couple took him out to dinner the night before. But by the time he arrived at the emergency room, he had fresh bruises on his face, brain bleeds, a lacerated liver, and a skull fracture. Lamb said these were acute injuries — meaning they occurred shortly before he reached the hospital — and not something that could come from a simple fall off a bed or chair.
Prosecutors also pointed to text messages the former beauty queen Poague allegedly sent to her roommate, saying things like the toddler “hates me and I hate him” and that she wanted to punch him. They claim Poague resented the child because she wanted a baby of her own with her boyfriend. Her defense argues that the messages reflect frustration, not intent.
After her arrest, Poague was stripped of her Miss Donalsonville crown. The community remains heartbroken, and the case continues to gain national attention as investigators try to piece together what really happened during those thirty-five minutes when Jaxton was left alone with her.
