Chilling case of woman on death row after disturbing pregnancy secret surfaced
Warning: This article contains discussion of themes which some readers may find distressing.
Taylor Parker, the woman who received the death penalty in 2022 after killing her pregnant friend and abducting her unborn baby, hid a chilling secret from her family when she faked a pregnancy.
New Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct details the heinous crimes committed in 2020 by the 33-year-old, who is currently one of six women on Death Row in Texas.
Parker was convicted of murdering her pregnant friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock, 21, and cutting her unborn daughter Braxlynn from her womb.
Advert
After faking a pregnancy for nine months to her family and partner Wade Griffin, the judge established that her crime was elaborately premeditated, and that she had been plotting for months to find a real baby to claim as her own.
Parker told Griffin that she was 'pretty much pregnant', and began collecting baby clothes and items, as well as hosting a gender reveal party.
Taylor Parker's chilling pregnancy secret
But her boyfriend had no idea that the 33-year-old, who already had two children of her own, had undergone a hysterectomy in 2019 - meaning it was physically impossible for her to become pregnant.
On October 9, 2020, officers pulled Parker over for driving erratically, and found the woman covered in dried blood while holding the dead baby with the umbilical cord still attached.
Parker informed officers that she had given birth on the side of the road.
But doctors at a nearby hospital that she was transported to noted that there was no evidence of recent childbirth.
Taylor Parker's eventual admission to killing Reagan Simmons-Hancock
During questioning, Parker admitted she had been involved in a 'physical altercation' with Simmons-Hancock, and had removed the baby from her body.
An investigation into her death revealed that the 33-year-old had stabbed her friend more than 100 times.
At trial, the defense did not try to prove that she didn't commit the crime. Instead, her attorneys aimed to keep her off Death Row - but their attempts were not successful.
'It was unimaginable what she did'
In Maternal Instinct, Parker's former boyfriend Griffin speaks out for the first time publicly about her brutal crimes.
"It was unimaginable what she did, I don't even know how to explain it," he said in the trailer.
Speaking with the Guardian, forensic psychologist Gary Brucato said: "There’s a phenomenon called elimination murder, where you have no hard feelings toward the person but they are in the way of something you want."
Up until 1973, there had never been a single case of fetal abduction by maternal evisceration recorded in the states. But between 1987 and 2011, the number had risen to 15 in the US.
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, Death Row, US News, Crime, Documentaries
Mia Williams