New details in child murder case against Ga. pageant queen
DONALSONVILLE, Ga. - The Georgia Southwestern State University campus is still in shock after an 18-month-old’s death incident that started on the campus. The suspect in the murder was a student at the university.
Trinity Poague, who was crowned Miss Donalsonville, is facing charges of murder, aggravated battery and first-degree cruelty to children.
On Jan. 14 at Oaks 2 dorms on GSW’s campus, police said 18-month-old Jaxton Dru was found unresponsive and later died at the hospital.
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Sumter County Coroner Mathis Wright said that according to the boy’s birth certificate, the child’s name was Romeo Angles, but at the hospital, the boy’s father gave him the name Jaxton Drew Williams.
Wright says he’s waiting for official autopsy reports, but based on his initial findings, he believes Jaxton’s cause of death was some form of blunt force trauma.
What happened on campus?
GSW students said they heard something unusual on the day of the infant’s death in their dorms.
“That kid was crying for a long time until everyone said that suddenly it just stopped. And no one knew what happened,” said Lilly Waterman, a GSW student.
She was just doors away from Poague’s room when she heard baby Dru crying for what she said was well over an hour. Poague was a freshman at GSW. Waterman said Poague was dating Dru’s father at the time. Now, the campus is left with a connection to a mysterious murder.
“This is all people are going to think about for GSW now. Like for a tragedy... for like that to happen in a place that I have to walk by every morning to get to class; there’s not going to be anything to take that back,” Waterman said.
Emily Alford, another GSW student, said she was friends with Poague and never thought her friend would be connected to a murder.
“As a person, I say she was very, at the time, very outgoing and very, like, fun, communicative, everything. I’m still in disbelief,” Alford said.
The university is now offering additional counseling resources after the deadly incident.
“It’s sad. When you hear someone that goes to your college was arrested for child murder that’s like... like don’t really know what to make of it,” said Seth Parrott, another GSW student.
Sumter County Deputy Coroner Mathis Wright said when he examined the baby’s body, there were obvious signs of some type of trauma. He is still waiting on the autopsy report to confirm what type of trauma.
In 2023, Poague was crowned Miss Donalsonville. She went on to compete in the National Peanut Festival. The Donalsonville Pageant director said her title will be stripped. Donalsonville City Manager Jeff Hatcher said Poague’s involvement in the murder investigation does not reflect on the city.
“The city of Donalsonville is not in the pageant business. We’re about moving forward, but when you hear the name Miss Donalsonville you of course do connect that with the city, and that is not how we want to be represented,” Hatcher said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said right now, there are no updates in the case as the investigation is ongoing.
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