Taylor Parker spent months faking a pregnancy before she brutally murdered 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock and cut her unborn daughter from her womb; a crime that ultimately landed her on Texas\u2019 death row<\/p>\n
Netflix\u2019s latest true-crime documentary is horrifying audiences with a story almost too shocking to be real.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Viewers are being introduced to (or possibly revisiting) one of the most truly disturbing true-crime cases in recent memory. The new documentary Maternal Instinct<\/a> paints a horrifying picture, but the real story behind the film is arguably even more terrifying than what unfolds on screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n The documentary, directed by Jessica Dimmock and now streaming on Netflix, revisits the 2020 East Texas murder that left a young mother and her unborn daughter dead\u2026and ultimately sent a woman named Taylor Rene Parker to death row.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the center of the tragedy was Reagan Simmons-Hancock, a 21-year-old newlywed from New Boston, Texas. Reagan was beautiful, kind, bubbly, devoted to her family and excited to welcome her second child. She and her husband, Homer Hancock, were already raising their young daughter, Kynlee, and were preparing for the arrival of baby Braxlynn Sage Hancock.<\/p>\n But Taylor Parker wasn\u2019t a stranger. Los Angeles obtained actual court documents pertaining to the 2020 case.<\/p>\n According to real testimony later summarized by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Parker had photographed Reagan\u2019s engagement photos and wedding, which was also depicted in the documentary. The two women had become acquaintances through the quaint East Texas community, and Reagan trusted her enough to welcome her into her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n The betrayal would devastate everyone who knew them. And by all outward appearances, Parker seemed to have everything together.<\/p>\n The documentary details how Parker portrayed herself as the daughter of a wealthy East Texas family with oil money and told those around her that she was expecting a baby with her boyfriend, Wade Griffin, a local hog trapper. Friends even threw her a gender reveal party. She posted pregnancy updates online. She picked out baby names and decorated a nursery. She took staged maternity photos with Griffin. Cringe.<\/p>\n Nearly everything was a lie.<\/p>\n Court records show Parker had undergone a hysterectomy years earlier following complications from an ectopic pregnancy, which left her unable to carry another child. Prosecutors proved she spent nearly 10 months maintaining the elaborate pregnancy deception, even purchasing a silicone pregnancy belly, crafting a customized ultrasound image, and convincing her friends and family that she was due to give birth. As the fake due date approached, cracks began to form.<\/p>\n According to court documents, Parker repeatedly changed the story about where she planned to deliver the baby. On the morning of October 9, 2020, she sent Griffin out of town on an errand to Oklahoma before driving instead to Reagan\u2019s home in New Boston. What came next was an act so evil, it\u2019s almost unspeakable.<\/p>\n The court records state Reagan suffered 113 sharp-force injuries, including multiple stab wounds and dozens of incised wounds. She also sustained blunt-force trauma, skull fractures and injuries consistent with strangulation. Prosecutors then explained that Parker then performed what the court described as a \u201ccrude C-section\u201d and removed Reagan\u2019s unborn daughter, Braxlynn, from her womb. Devastating. Per the original criminal complaint<\/a>, the scalpel (the murder weapon), was left at the scene still lodged in Reagan\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n Hours later Parker\u2019s carefully constructed web of lies began to collapse.<\/p>\n A Texas state trooper pulled Parker over after observing her driving erratically. She claimed she had just given birth on the side of the road- she had baby Braxlynn on her lap, with the umbilical cord still attached.\u00a0<\/p>\n Medical personnel quickly became suspicious. Court documents show that Parker arrived at the hospital with an infant who was pale and unresponsive, while Parker herself showed no signs consistent with having recently delivered a child. Again, an umbilical cord was reportedly hanging from her clothing.<\/p>\n Doctors fought to save Braxlynn\u2019s life.According to the court, the newborn briefly regained a pulse before ultimately dying. Reagan had already been pronounced dead.<\/p>\n Parker was arrested the same day, and her capital murder trial captivated the nation.<\/p>\n Jurors heard testimony about the lengths Parker went to in order to sustain her lies: including fabricating illnesses, exaggerating family wealth and manipulating almost everyone around her. Witnesses described her as charismatic and convincing\u2026someone capable of making almost anyone believe her stories.<\/p>\n In November 2022, a Bowie County jury convicted Parker of capital murder. During the punishment phase, jurors determined she posed a continuing threat to society and sentenced her to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later affirmed both the conviction and sentence. Parker remains incarcerated at the Patrick L. O\u2019Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas; one of the few women currently on Texas\u2019 death row.<\/p>\n