A former beauty queen once celebrated onstage in a rhinestone crown has reappeared in public under circumstances that could not be further from her pageant past.
Trinity Madison Poague, who is accused of taking the life of her boyfriend’s 18-month-old son, returned to court this week looking nearly unrecognizable from the woman who once competed in the National Peanut Festival Pageant.
Highlights
- A former beauty queen appeared in court under suspicion of taking the life of her boyfriend’s toddler son.
- The 18-month-old sustained catastrophic injuries, including brain and liver damage.
- The defense insists there is no physical evidence linking Poague to the toddler’s fatal injuries.
The transformation was jarring. Gone was the blonde hair, the heavy glam or the stage presence. Instead, she wore a simple pink sweater, loose dark waves, and a visible nervous demeanor.
Her appearance came as she faces the possibility of life in prison for the passing of Romeo “Jaxton” Angeles, who was found unresponsive inside her Georgia Southwestern State University dorm room in January 2024.
She has pleaded not guilty.
A former beauty pageant risks life in prison after being on trial for allegedly taking the life of her boyfriend’s toddler son
Image credits: Instagram/trinpoague
The charges stem from a narrow window of time during which the toddler was left alone with Poague while his father, Julian Williams, stepped out to pick up a pizza.
According to District Attorney Lewis R. Lamb, Poague had spent the previous night with Williams and the child after the three went out to dinner. Hours later, she allegedly texted her roommate Paris in frustration.
“[He] hates me and I hate him,” she wrote about the toddler, and complained she was “stuck” with the child overnight. Poague asked her roommate to stay in the room because the boy was being fussy and Williams was “no help.”
Image credits: Instagram/trinpoague
The following day, Williams left briefly to collect a pizza. While he was gone, Poague called him in a panic, saying the child was not breathing and that she did not know what had happened.
Williams rushed him to the hospital, where the toddler passed away around 4 pm.
Image credits: COURT TV
In court, Lamb described the discrepancy between the child’s condition the night before and the catastrophic injuries discovered at the hospital:
“[He] didn’t have a mark on him,” Lamb said. “He wasn’t in any distress. But by the time the child got to the emergency room after spending 35 minutes in that room with Trinity Poague, he had fresh bruising on his face.”
Image credits: Facebook
Poague told investigators the toddler had simply rolled off the bed, insisting he was fine. But Lamb said videos recovered from her phone showed Jaxton acting normally and without injuries around the same timeframe.
Doctors documented traumatic brain bleeds, extensive facial and neck bruising, a liver laceration, and a hemorrhaging skull fracture at the back of the head.
Image credits: Sumter County Sheriff's Office
“It’s an acute injury,” Lamb said. “It’s not an injury that happened hours before, days before… not an injury that could have happened, realistically, from a child falling off the bed.”
An indictment goes further, alleging Poague caused serious disfigurement to the child’s liver and “rendered his brain useless.”
Poague’s defense argued that there was no evidence linking her to the injuries the child sustained
Image credits: COURT TV
Poague’s attorney, Wilbur T. Gamble III, countered that prosecutors were building a case without physical proof. Standing before the court, he argued investigators have failed to present any forensic evidence linking Poague to intentional harm.
“They have no evidence of a crime occurring at all,” Gamble said. “You’ll see no blood evidence, you’ll see no DNA evidence, you will see no spittle evidence… You’ll see no blood splatter. You’ll see nothing.”
Image credits: COURT TV
Gamble also attempted to shift attention onto the boy’s father, describing Williams as a controlling boyfriend who had been drinking the night before the incident. While acknowledging that Poague had sent the frustrated text messages, the defense insisted they were not proof of guilt.
Image credits: Facebook
Despite the defense’s posture, the charges Poague faces are among the most severe in the Georgia criminal code: first-degree cruelty to children, two counts of felony murder, malice murder, and two counts of aggravated battery.
If convicted, she will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
The former contestant will have to wear an ankle monitor as the trial unfolds
Image credits: Instagram/trinpoague
The contrast between Poague’s past accomplishments and the allegations now before her adds another layer to the public fascination surrounding the case.
Image credits: Instagram/trinpoague
Before her arrest, Poague had been a freshman nursing student at Georgia Southwestern State University and a participant in the prestigious President Jimmy Carter Leadership Program, which is a distinction given only to students with strong academic performance and leadership skills.
She had graduated from Southwest Georgia Academy just months earlier and had been crowned Miss Donalsonville 2023, going on to compete in a major regional pageant.
The young woman who once posed in pageant sashes is now at the center of a homicide trial involving a child who, prosecutors say, suffered violent and rapid injuries inconsistent with any accidental fall.
Poague remains out on a bond reportedly worth $75,000. She’s under ankle-monitor restrictions.
"Heartless." Netizens shared their thoughts on the case online
