A former Georgia beauty pageant winner has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her boyfriend’s 18-month-old son. Prosecutors say the crime was fueled by resentment and supported by conflicting stories and disturbing text messages.
Trinity Poague, who was a reigning pageant winner in Donalsonville at the time of her January 2024 arrest, must serve 30 years before becoming eligible for parole, District Attorney Lewis Lamb told CBS News Atlanta.
During the trial, jurors heard several inconsistent explanations from Poague about how the toddler—referred to in court as J.D., born Romeo—sustained fatal injuries on Jan. 13, 2024. The child’s father had left Poague alone with him for roughly 30 minutes while he went to Walmart. As he returned, Poague called him twice.
Poague later claimed the boy had fallen from a bed or a chair, but prosecutors said the medical evidence made those accounts impossible. The medical examiner determined that massive brain bleeding and a skull fracture were consistent with blunt force trauma, not a simple fall, and that the injuries occurred too quickly to align with her shifting stories.
Photos taken shortly before the incident showed the toddler appeared healthy, prosecutors noted.
Text messages Poague sent to her roommate were also shown in court. In them, she wrote about the child, “He hates me, and I hate him.” Prosecutors argued Poague, who reportedly wanted a child of her own, acted out of deep resentment. She did not confess at any point during the trial.
The investigation began on Jan. 14, 2024, when the Georgia Southwestern State University Police Department requested assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The unresponsive toddler had been brought to Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus, where he later died despite emergency efforts.
After multiple interviews and a thorough review of evidence, the GBI arrested Poague on charges of aggravated battery, felony murder, and first-degree cruelty to children. She was booked into the Sumter County Jail without bond.
