REMEMBERING TRINITY

Trinity Love Jones was nine years old. Her middle name really was Love, and the people who knew her described a little girl whose personality matched it. Her father, Antonio Jones, remembered Trinity as fun, loving, bubbly and full of life. He said she had a big heart and believed his daughter could have become anything she wanted. Her family called her their princess. Trinity loved dressing up like one, and photographs shared after her death show a smiling little girl who enjoyed fashion and expressing herself. Her cousin, Sytrice Oldham-Edmond, remembered simply, “Trinity was our princess.” Trinity should have had years to discover who she wanted to become.mInstead, she spent the final months of her life increasingly isolated from relatives and enduring abuse from the adults responsible for caring for her.

TRINITY’S STORY

Trinity lived with her mother, Taquesta Graham, and Graham’s boyfriend, Emiel Hunt. In May 2018, the three moved away from a relative’s home in Long Beach. During the following ten months, extended family had very limited contact with Trinity. By the period immediately before her death, Graham, Hunt and Trinity were experiencing homelessness and staying either in their vehicle or at a motel in Santa Fe Springs.  Trinity also became increasingly isolated. She had been removed from traditional school and was being homeschooled. Relatives later reported trying to obtain help because they were concerned about her.  Behind that isolation, Trinity was being abused and neglected. Evidence presented during court proceedings showed a prolonged pattern of mistreatment. Trinity had injuries and scars across her body. Prosecutors presented text messages between Graham and Hunt discussing punishments and complaining about Trinity, including exchanges concerning withholding food. Trinity became thin and physically frail. She also developed an infection in her feet severe enough to make wearing shoes difficult. Approximately two weeks before her death, Trinity suffered a significant head injury. A large lump developed on her forehead. Both of her eyes began to swell. She became lethargic and began slurring her words. She was not taken to a hospital. Graham later told investigators that she was afraid she would get into trouble if she sought medical care for her daughter. On February 28, 2019, Trinity’s condition deteriorated further. Graham told investigators that Trinity appeared congested and was given food, Pedialyte and soup. At one point, Trinity clenched her teeth and appeared to suffer a seizure. Even then, she did not receive emergency medical treatment. That afternoon, Graham went to work while Hunt remained outside with Trinity in their vehicle. Trinity was lying in the back seat. When Graham finished work that night, Hunt carried Trinity into the motel where they were staying. Later, Trinity was no longer breathing.  No one called 911. Instead, Graham and Hunt concealed Trinity’s death.

Surveillance footage showed Hunt carrying a body wrapped in a blanket from the motel shortly before 6:00 a.m. on March 1. About thirty minutes later, Hunt purchased two shovels, a blanket and a lighter. Later that morning, Graham and Hunt purchased a rollaway duffel bag.  Trinity’s body was placed inside the bag and abandoned near an equestrian trail in Hacienda Heights. She remained there unidentified. On March 5, 2019, county workers clearing brush discovered her. At first, authorities did not know who the little girl was. Investigators released a forensic sketch and photographs of the clothing she had been wearing in hopes that someone would recognize her.  Her family eventually provided information and DNA that allowed investigators to give the unidentified child her name back. She was Trinity Love Jones. She was nine years old. The medical evidence revealed extensive injuries and a prolonged pattern of abuse and neglect. Her death was attributed to the consequences of blunt force trauma and neglect and was ruled a homicide. 

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

The warning signs surrounding Trinity did not begin during the final months of her life. Los Angeles County child welfare authorities had investigated allegations involving Graham and Trinity as early as 2011, when Trinity was still very young. Those allegations were ultimately classified as unfounded or inconclusive. Invisible Children Years later, Trinity became increasingly isolated from relatives. After Graham, Hunt and Trinity left the Long Beach family home in May 2018, relatives had only limited contact with her. Trinity was no longer attending a traditional school, eliminating another regular point of contact with adults outside the home. By the time Trinity died, officials reported that there was no open or active Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services case involving her. There was another extraordinary warning sign inside Trinity’s home. Emiel Hunt had previously been convicted of felony child abuse with great bodily injury in San Diego County. That case involved another child. He had been sentenced in 2005 to twelve years in state prison.  During Trinity’s final months, the abuse became severe enough to leave visible injuries and extensive scarring. Her feet were infected. She became frail. After suffering a head injury, her eyes swelled, she became lethargic and she began slurring her speech. Still, Trinity remained isolated and received no lifesaving medical intervention. By the time authorities became involved again, Trinity was already dead.

JUSTICE FOR TRINITY

Taquesta Graham and Emiel Hunt were arrested in March 2019. Both were initially prosecuted on murder and torture charges. Their cases were ultimately resolved in April 2022, shortly before trial, through no contest pleas. Graham entered a no contest plea to second degree murder and was sentenced to fifteen years to life in state prison. Hunt entered a no contest plea to assault on a child causing death and received a sentence of twenty five years to life. 

 

Taquesta Graham

Relationship to Trinity: Mother

Conviction: Second degree murder

Sentence: 15 years to life in state prison

 

Emiel Hunt

Relationship to Trinity: Mother’s Boyfriend

Conviction: Assault on a child causing death

Sentence: 25 years to life in state prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

For several days after Trinity was found, people gathered at the place where her body had been abandoned without even knowing her name. They brought flowers. They brought balloons. They brought stuffed animals. They created a memorial for a little girl they knew only from a police sketch and the words printed across the shirt she had been wearing: “Future Princess Hero.” Then her family gave the little girl her identity back. Trinity Love Jones. Nine years old. A daughter. A relative remembered as their princess. A bubbly little girl who loved dressing up and whose father remembered her as being full of character, life and joy. Those are the pieces of Trinity that deserve to remain beside the terrible facts of her death. Because Trinity was not the duffel bag in which she was found. She was not a forensic sketch. She was not the scars documented during her autopsy. She was a child whose life existed before any of those things became associated with her name.Trinity should have grown beyond nine. She should have entered her teenage years. She should have had the freedom to dress however she wanted, discover new interests, make friends and decide for herself what kind of woman she wanted to become. Her father believed she could have been anything. She never received that chance.But Trinity no longer has to be remembered as an unidentified little girl found beside a trail. Her name is known. Her story is known. And she will continue to be remembered as Trinity Love Jones. Abuse Angels remembers Trinity Love Jones. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.