[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
An 18-year-old Georgia beauty queen has been accused of murdering her boyfriend’s son.
Back in January, Trinity Poague was arrested and charged with several offenses in connection with Javante Smith‘s 18-month-old son Jaxton Drew Williams.
The boy was rushed from Javante’s dorm at Georgia Southwestern State University to the hospital near Americus, Georgia. New indictments against the teen from last month describe the child’s injuries as “serious disfigurement to his liver”. The legal filings also state Poague’s alleged abuse caused his brain to end up being “useless” due to unimaginable trauma to his head and torso.
The toddler, whose legal name is Romeo Angeles, succumbed to his horrific injuries and was identified by his father after his death. Just awful… the poor baby…
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The Georgia Southwestern State University Police Department requested help from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation after connecting the university student to the boy’s death. This led to the teen being arrested and charged with two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated battery, one count of malice murder, and one count of cruelty to children, according to legal docs obtained by multiple outlets.
Local news station WRDW reported that witnesses knew Poague and Smith were in a romantic relationship at the time of the boy’s death. Several students also came forward saying they heard a baby crying in the dormitories that the pageant queen lived in. Student Lilly Waterman recalled to the outlet the child cried for a long time until “everyone said that suddenly it just stopped”:
“And no one knew what happened.”
Horrifying.
After her arrest, Poague was released on a $75,000 bond earlier this year but continues to have to wear an ankle monitor. The teen had competed in the National Peanut Festival Pageant. Early County News has reported she was stripped of her Miss Donalsonville title.
The victim’s family set up a GoFundMe for end of life expenses, and described Smith as one of the “best fathers around”:
“The unfathomable thought, of having to bury a child. There are no words that can bring peace. No words that can bring comfort. An innocent life, that was taken from this world way too soon. A laugh that will no longer fill the room. A smile that will no longer light the darkness.”
So, so sad. If you’d like to donate, you can find it HERE.
We can’t imagine what this family is going through right now. May Jaxton rest in peace and get the justice he deserves.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Trinity Poague/Instagram/GoFundMe]
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