All the horrifying details of Taylor Parker crime scene that were left out of Maternal Instinct
Warning: This article contains discussion of themes which some readers may find distressing.
The horrifying details of Taylor Parker's crimes that were left out of Netflix's Maternal Instinct have been revealed in court documents following the heinous case.
Maternal Instinct, the documentary released on the streamer on Friday (June 12), explores the crimes of 33-year-old Parker, who murdered her pregnant friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock, 21, and abducted her unborn baby, Braxlynn, from her womb in 2020.
Parker was sentenced to death for her crimes and is one of seven women in Texas currently waiting to be executed on death row.
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The documentary follows the months leading up to her brutal crimes, in which she faked the entire duration of a pregnancy to her family and friends.
At trial, the judge established that her crimes were elaborately premeditated and that she had been plotting for months to find a real baby to claim as her own.
But the court documents from the case reveal even more horrifying details that were left out of the Netflix doc.
Reagan's body was found with 113 'sharp force injuries', court documents reveal.
This included 15 stab wounds, 98 incised wounds, 39 'blunt force injuries primarily to her face and head', including a broken nose, five skull fractures, and two wounds in the jugular vein, medical examiner, Dr Melinda Flores, testified.
The expert further claimed that several of the injuries went 'all the way to the bone'.
Marc Sullivan, the crime scene technician, told the court during his testimony that Reagan was attacked in several different places around her house.
He noted that she was able to stand up and walk while bleeding for some time before she collapsed.
A doctor also revealed that her injuries 'indicated that she may have been hit in the head by a hammer', and there was evidence of 'possible strangulation'.
The expert wrote: "Reagan lost so much blood in the attack that some of her wounds did not even bleed due to low blood pressure."
The court documents further revealed that Parker cut a 'large incised wound going across her lower abdomen with her uterus coming through it' to remove the unborn child.
While she abducted the baby, she also removed Reagan's placenta and the umbilical cord.
Speaking in the trailer of the documentary, Parker's former boyfriend, Wade Griffin, said: "It was unimaginable what she did, I don't even know how to explain it."
A timeline of Taylor Parker’s crime
2014
Mother-of-two and wedding photographer Taylor Parker decides to get her tubes tied after suffering pre-eclampsia, a dangerous condition which raises blood pressure, during her last pregnancy.
2015
Parker goes to her doctor with bleeding, who concludes she has had an ectopic pregnancy. She undergoes a hysterectomy, permanently removing her ability to have children.
July 2019
Parker, who is now twice divorced, meets hog trapper Wade Griffin at a local rodeo and they start a relationship. She lies to him that she is the heir to a $6 million estate.
September 2019
Jessica Brookes hires Parker as the photographer at her daughter Reagan Hancock’s wedding to longtime boyfriend Homer Hancock. Parker also previously took their engagement photos.
January 2020
Parker tells Griffin she’s pregnant. He doesn’t know about the hysterectomy. To maintain the ruse, Parker wears a fake pregnancy bump, takes maternity photos and throws a gender reveal party. She claims her due date is September.
Staffers at the hospital where Parker had her hysterectomy are ‘very confused’ about her social media updates, but are bound by privacy laws.
May 2020
Hancock tells her mum Jessica that she’s pregnant with her second child. Jessica later says that after Parker finds out Hancock is pregnant and expecting a girl, she starts to have more contact with her.
September 2020
After her ‘due date’ passes, Parker tells Griffin she will need to be induced or have a C-section.
October 9 2020
Parker watches a video on how to deliver a baby pre-term at 35 weeks, the length of Hancock’s pregnancy. She tells Griffin she is travelling to Idabel, Oklahoma, to be induced. Instead, she travels to Hancock’s home, killing her and cutting her unborn child, Braxlynn Sage, from her womb. Hancock’s three-year-old daughter is later found in the house unharmed.
Parker is later pulled over by a Texas State Trooper for erratic driving. As the trooper is approaching her car, she calls 911 and asks for an ambulance, saying: “I’m starting to have my baby.”
The trooper finds Taylor covered in dried blood and holding Hancock’s dead baby, with the umbilical cord still attached.
She is taken to hospital, where it is soon determined she has not given birth. She is arrested the same day.
December 2020
Taylor is indicted by a grand jury on charges of capital murder and kidnapping.
October 2022
Parker is convicted of capital murder.
November 2022
Parker is sentenced to death. Jessica says a ‘heavy burden has been lifted’.
May 2026
The Supreme Court says it will not review Parker’s case. She remains on death row. A date of execution has not been set.
June 12 2026
Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct is released.
Topics: Netflix, Film and TV, True crime, Crime, US News
Mia Williams