John Jefferson
Beauty queen Trinity Poague is facing a felony murder charge in the death of an 18-month-old boy, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. (Trinity Poague Instagram)
A grand jury in Georgia indicted a beauty queen for the murder of her boyfriend’s 18-month-old son.
Trinity Poague, 18, is charged with malice murder and first-degree cruelty to a child along with two counts each of felony murder and aggravated battery in the death of Romeo Angeles, the indictment posted by Albany, Georgia, ABC and NBC affiliate WALB said. The boy also was known as Jaxton Dru.
The indictment says Poague inflicted blunt force trauma to Romeo’s head and torso with “malice aforethought.” It also said Poague rendered the boy’s brain “useless” and caused “serious disfigurement” to his liver.
On Jan. 14, the Georgia Southwestern State University Police Department contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about the death of a child. The unresponsive boy was taken to the emergency room at Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus. Doctors tried to save him, but he later died.
After multiple interviews and an examination of the evidence, GBI agents arrested Poague days after the homicide. Officers took Poague to the Sumter County Jail where she has since posted bond. It’s unclear if she was taken to jail after the indictment.
Poague was crowned Miss Donalsonville, Georgia, in 2023. She went on to compete at the National Peanut Festival beauty pageant last fall, but she did not place.
“Win or lose, I have gained the world throughout my reign as Miss Donalsonville,” she wrote on her Instagram page after the pageant. “To me, that is the best thing Jesus could ever do for me. He blesses me in EVERY SINGLE WAY. The National Peanut Festival title wasn’t the crown I was meant to wear. I walked away still being the lovely, comical, achiever miss city girl that I’ve always been. In this experience I learned, and won. Gratitude. That is all I have throughout this experience.”
The Early County News reported Poague has since been stripped of her title.
Her Instagram account says she enrolled at Georgia Southwestern State University in August. Dothan, Alabama, CBS affiliate WTVY reported she graduated high school from Southwest Georgia Academy, a college prep school in Damascus.
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