A former Georgia beauty pageant winner has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her boyfriend's 18-month-old son.

Prosecutors say the case was driven by resentment and documented through shifting stories and disturbing text messages.

Trinity Poague, who was a reigning pageant winner in Donalsonville at the time of her arrest in January 2024, will have to serve 30 years before she can be eligible for parole, District Attorney Lewis Lamb told CBS News Atlanta.

Lamb said jurors heard several conflicting explanations from Poague about how the child, known in court as J.D. and whose birth name was Romeo, suffered fatal injuries on Jan. 13, 2024. Poague's boyfriend had left her alone with his son for about 30 minutes while he went to Walmart for drinks and pizza. As he returned, Poague called him twice.

When questioned, Poague gave varying accounts, claiming the toddler had fallen from a bed or a chair. But prosecutors said those explanations were impossible. According to the medical examiner, the boy's massive brain bleeding and skull fracture could not have resulted from a simple fall. The injuries indicated blunt force trauma and occurred far too quickly to match Poague's stories.

Photos taken shortly before the child's death showed he appeared to be in good health, prosecutors said.

Lamb also pointed to text messages Poague sent to her roommate, which were shown to jurors. In them, she wrote about the toddler, "He hates me, and I hate him." Prosecutors argued that Poague, who wanted to have a child of her own, killed the boy out of resentment.

Poague never confessed during the trial.

The case began on Jan. 14, 2024, when the Georgia Southwestern State University Police Department asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into the toddler's death. The unresponsive child had been taken to Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus, where he later died despite lifesaving efforts.

After multiple interviews and a review of the evidence, the GBI arrested Poague on charges of aggravated battery, felony murder, and first-degree cruelty to children. She was booked into the Sumter County Jail without bond.