A tense hush fell over the Sumter County courtroom Friday as Trinity Madison Poague, once celebrated on small-town stages, stood trembling while awaiting her fate.
According to the New York Post, moments earlier, a jury had found the 20-year-old guilty in the death of her ex-boyfriendâs toddler son â a case that had stunned her Georgia community for nearly a year.
The Verdict ended a short but emotionally charged trial that revisited the final moments of 18-month-old Romeo âJaxton Druâ Angeles.
Prosecutors argued that Poague inflicted devastating injuries on the child while alone with him inside a Georgia Southwestern State University dorm room in January 2024.
Jurors deliberated less than an hour before returning with guilty findings on felony murder, aggravated battery, and child cruelty. When the court reconvened for sentencing, Poagueâs composure crumbled.
Judge W. James Sizemore, Jr. spoke sparingly as she wept.
âI donât do a lot of speaking when I am passing the sentence. I have heard the case, and Iâve considered the tragedy,â he said. âThe bottom line is youâre going to receive a sentence of life in prison.â
He added 20 years to run concurrently.
The case centered on what happened after Poagueâs boyfriend, Julian Williams, briefly left his dorm to pick up a pizza. Prosecutors said Poague texted him moments later, warning that his son was not breathing.
Williams raced back to the room, carried the unresponsive toddler to his car, and drove straight to the emergency room.
Doctors struggled to stabilize the child and prepared him for an emergency flight to Atlanta, but Romeo never recovered.
A medical examiner later ruled that the toddler had suffered catastrophic blunt-force trauma to his head and torso, injuries so severe his brain was left âuseless.â The findings contradicted Poagueâs initial statement that the child had been eating chips just before losing consciousness.
Testimony revealed additional troubling details. Prosecutor Lewis Lamb told jurors that Poague resented the toddler and wanted a child of her own with Williams.
âShe wanted to have a child or children with Julian Williams,â Lamb said, according to CourtTV footage. âBut not that child.â
Investigators also learned that Poague searched online for terms such as âHow do you get a brain bleed?â and âHow can a depressed skull fracture go unnoticed?â while at the hospital.
An emergency room physician, Dr. Michael Busman, testified that swelling and fluid from the toddlerâs nose pointed to âa direct blow,â not a medical episode.
Poague, who was crowned Miss Donalsonville in 2023 and participated in the National Peanut Festival beauty pageant, lost her titles after her arrest.
Now, the former pageant competitor begins a life sentence as the family of young Romeo closes one painful chapter and faces the long road ahead.