Live Trial of Accused Baby Murderer and Former Beauty Queen Trinity Poague Is Shocking
Sumter County authorities report that the baby sustained “serious disfigurement to his liver,” while rendering the child's brain “useless."
Published Dec. 4 2025, 3:42 p.m. ET
Content Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find disturbing.
When someone commits murder, it shocks the community they belong to. People always expect it to happen somewhere else, to someone else, far from the place they call home.
When that crime involves a child, the shock runs even more deeply. It rattles the foundation of families and communities and reshapes the way people think about
When 18-month-old Romeo Angeles, also known as Jaxton, was killed in 2024, the finger eventually pointed at someone unimaginable: the girlfriend of the baby's father. That girlfriend is now on trial, her alleged crimes playing before a rapt and shocked audience. Here's what we know about the allegations against Trinity Poague and the trial that has gripped the world.
Here's what we know about Trinity Poague's live trial.
In the livestreaming trial, Trinity Poague appears completely unemotional. Staring ahead, listening to people talk with little response or interest, she's almost like a ghost of her former self in the courtroom.
That former self included a life as a beauty queen, but it seems unlikely that the Georgia woman will ever return to the pageants because she's facing a potential sentence of life in prison, or even the death penalty, if found guilty.
The crime of which she is accused is allegedly killing the toddler son of her boyfriend, Javante Smith. In the trial, People reports, prosecutors allege that Trinity resented little Jaxton's presence in his father's life and wanted to have a baby of her own with him.
A coroner's report found blunt force trauma was the cause of death, with Sumter County authorities reporting that the baby sustained “serious disfigurement to his liver,” while rendering the child's brain “useless." Jaxton was rushed to the emergency room on Jan.14, 2024, after his father left to get pizza, and Poague told him that the baby had stopped breathing in her dorm room at Southwestern State University. Doctors attempted life-saving measures, but the child succumbed to his injuries, according to WDHN.
Shocking testimony has gripped audiences.
As the trial got underway, prosecutors brought out some shocking testimonies to show the seriousness of the crime against the child.
Among those was the short but devastating testimony of fellow Southwestern State University student Lily Waterman, who testified that she had heard Romeo crying for a long time and that “everyone said that suddenly it just stopped" (via People).
According to Crime Online, Poague at first claimed that the baby had fallen and sustained injuries that way, but testimony in the trial refuted that claim. Phoebe Sumter Family Physician Michael Busman testified that doctors observed injuries consistent with a "direct blow to the head" and that the injuries are not consistent with the infant falling from a bed, as Poague claimed.
As the trial continues, audiences are tuning in live online through CourtTV's YouTube channel and other networks to catch the horrifying testimony.
Poague is charged with malice murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, felony murder, and aggravated battery. If found guilty, she could face life in prison or even the death penalty under Georgia's criminal law.