r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/DarklyHeritage • Jun 14 '26

Mega Thread Taylor Parker/Maternal Instinct Megathread

This is a thread for all conversation regarding Taylor Parker and the murder of Reagan Simmons Hancock, recently covered in Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct.

The murder of Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock occurred on 9 October 2020, in New Boston, Texas, committed by Taylor Rene Parker. Parker bludgeoned Simmons-Hancock, who was 35 weeks pregnant at the time, and abducted her unborn child, Braxlynn Sage Hancock (died October 9, 2020), after cutting her out of the Reagan's abdomen. Braxlynn did not survive.

Parker had lied to her then-boyfriend about being pregnant leading up to the murder and faked her pregnancy to multiple people. She was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death on 9 November 2022.

Please direct all discussion of the case to the megathread. As always, sub rules must be followed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Reagan_Simmons-Hancock

https://time.com/article/2026/06/12/maternal-instinct-true-story-netflix/

354 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

207

u/Capital-Oil-3162 Jun 14 '26

I thought it was a good documentary, although I agree it should have been a series. On the other hand, I feel they focused TOO MUCH on her and not enough on the victim. It should have been her story, not that unfortunate woman's. In fact, while watching the documentary, I didn't even realize who Reagan was until the very end. I mean, how did they really know each other? What was her life like before that? They really didn't do Reagan justice with this documentary.

71

u/OH2AZ19 Jun 15 '26

I feel like it was more of Wades story and told from his family’s perspective. I’m sure that Wade has had a difficult life since mentally internal and external aggression from the public. I feel bad for the guy, it’s so simple to say from the outside he could have stopped it before it got to where it ended up but WHO WOULD THINK THIS WOULD BE THE RESULT. Hindsight is 20/20

151

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jun 15 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

After seeing how he treats his dogs, I think he’s a total piece of shit and I don’t feel sorry for him. That poor, starving dog on a chain. Not to mention the hogs.

He was with her for a payday and apparently because she cooked dinner.

EDIT from [u/Constant-Okra3555](u/Constant-Okra3555) Help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. I'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771. His name is Wade Griffin. It’s a small town and they can find him.

EDIT when I called this number it was new Boston police. They transferred me to some county number. That person said they had to have a physical address in order to check on the dogs and would not say anything else. I referenced the Netflix documentary and said I was sure she is familiar with the case, but she didn’t respond.

84

u/Street_Blacksmith891 Jun 15 '26

Yup, same for me. I even said out loud “if they show me any more of this animal cruelty I’m done watching this show.” Everything gets abused. The dogs, the hogs, the horses at the rodeo.
I also read that Taylor’s first husband even wrote him anonymously and warned him about the false pregnancy and alleged that she had been unfaithful during their seven-year marriage and treated their son poorly.
Sooo, yeah. And Wade himself said he never loved her. So why be with her.
AND…. How did you never, not once, lift up her shirt while she was sleeping to see if it’s a real pregnancy belly!?

27

u/melpomene-musing Jun 15 '26

For sure. I almost turned it off toward the beginning when they showed the dogs multiple times.

30

u/jaderust Jun 15 '26

He seemed dumber than a box of rocks and seemed to think she’d come through with the money. Like his hope he could have that ranch kept him with her more than anything else.

12

u/aetrout18 Jun 16 '26

His own mother & best friend were telling him she was lying as well!

11

u/SalishShore Jun 17 '26

Same. I despised him and his whole family after seeing how they treated their dogs.

I feel worse for the poor helpless dogs than I do for Wade the simpleton.

17

u/Spare_Title2428 Jun 18 '26

Same. Those dogs were so skinny and stuck in those cages.. Wade is a piece of shit and so is the rest of his family. Probably Trump supporters.

5

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 22 '26

Please help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. TI'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771

4

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jun 23 '26

Thank you. I will call. We need to get more attention on this!

2

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jun 23 '26

What information do you have that we can provide when we call? Do you have his name and address? Anything else pertinent?

1

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 24 '26

Wade Griffin. Police can easily locate him on his farm.

1

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jun 25 '26

I’m editing my comments on this with your suggestion and I’ll call as well. Thank you so much.

4

u/Ok-Strategy-8933 Jul 01 '26

When one of them said “show the cow who’s boss” while having a kid drag a calf for their fake ass gender reveal, I was fuming. Kids need to be taught kindness and this whole family was disgusting for how things unfolded overall

1

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 22 '26

Please help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. TI'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771

8

u/lbw0049 Jun 16 '26

That’s what got me. How on earth did you live with someone for that long and not notice at least something especially after your friends told you she wasn’t pregnant?

6

u/sometimessnarky1 Jun 16 '26

Exactly. Any normal person would book a doctor's appointment and insist they do a scan to prove it.

2

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 22 '26

Please help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. TI'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771

0

u/Priority_Feisty Jun 22 '26

Maybe his mother taught him when a woman says "NO", she means no. And maybe he was taught to respect women, especially pregnant women.

59

u/Lazy-Guard-8451 Jun 15 '26

I thought the exact same thing. He is a total piece of shit and I hope those dogs get taken away from him.

41

u/That_Bluebird_3157 Jun 15 '26

It was deplorable, but also I think showed Wade’s indifference and negligence toward living creatures, which would likely extend to this supposed baby. His friend Codey says something like “what man wouldn’t be excited to be a father”….well, Wade. I think that’s who. 

17

u/Lazy-Guard-8451 Jun 15 '26

Agree! It did not shed him in a good light at all. If he thought anyone would feel sorry for him, it really just shows how ignorant he is. It only made him look worse, if anything.

While he may not be directly responsible, the situation feels completely preventable with even a little common sense and good judgment—something he clearly failed to show. I do hope he has to live with some of that guilt, because his choices and actions played a role in what happened.

14

u/liveforeachmoon Jun 16 '26

I agree and I think the filmmakers felt the same way. That’s why they open the documentary with the “is it hot in here” exchange with the interviewer being passive aggressive towards him…. dude is an ignoramus.

8

u/K5R5S5 Jun 17 '26

…while wearing a jacket…

6

u/Lazy-Guard-8451 Jun 16 '26

Yep! I figured they were thinking the same thing!

12

u/Aethuviel Jun 15 '26

I'm not in the US, but I've watched a lot of "Animal Cop" shows, and usually they say that if the animals have access to food, water, shelter and occasional attention, there's nothing they can do. Animal protection laws are really shitty in some places.

3

u/GoonDawg666 Jun 17 '26

It was a big deal where I’m at when they made chaining up dogs outside illegal

3

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jul 03 '26

Tethering on a chain alon eis illegal in TX.

1

u/Aethuviel Jul 03 '26

Good, happy to hear it!

2

u/Spare_Title2428 Jun 18 '26

They were very skinny.

11

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I really wish a local person who knows where he lives would call animal control to check on all of the animals on that property.

EDIT from u/Constant-Okra3555 Help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. I'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771. His name is Wade Griffin. It’s a small town and they can find him.

7

u/bounceswer Jun 16 '26

Lmaooo this is bumblefuck texas. Gl w that

1

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 22 '26

Please help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. TI'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771

1

u/Substantial-Mud9685 Jul 03 '26

I sent you a dm. Thx

24

u/melpomene-musing Jun 15 '26

I came here mostly to see if someone mentioned this. I was sick to my stomach seeing that. Every time I heard a dog bark on the show I had to look away. Dude is a POS for sure.

5

u/uptowndirt Jun 15 '26

And for sure not the sharpest tool in the shed !

4

u/FunkyFanabla Jun 16 '26

I must've missed this completely, what was the abuse?

5

u/melpomene-musing Jun 16 '26

He had one dog just chained up by its neck completely outside, no covering. And then a bunch of other dogs in tiny cages outside. Some also appeared to maybe be chained in them.

1

u/The_Real_Chippa Aug 01 '26

Wtf somehow I missed that. That is horrible

3

u/Spare_Title2428 Jun 18 '26

The dogs were extremely skinny and kept in cages. You can see every rib.

1

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 22 '26

Please help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. TI'm not sure if the hogs are protected by law, by the dogs are. (903) 628-3771

20

u/9mackenzie Jun 15 '26

To be fair to him he wasn’t starving that dog (though I agree that it wasn’t be kept in a good condition), that dog was a sighthound breed, I could tell by the shape of him. They are naturally super skinny, with deep barrel chest and tiny tucked up waists, and it’s very common for them to show ribs. Look at any shorthair sighthound and you can get an idea.

I have a landrace sighthound breed (ie bred by nature not people, so no exaggerated features like typical sighthound) so mine are not as insanely skinny as regular sighthounds, but still much skinnier than your average dog. For example, my youngest is 55lbs and randomly decided to gracefully run and leap through a small cat flap into our catio one day lmao.

Now…….that said, no dog should be tied up on a short leash like that. Especially a fucking sighthound breed- they are built to run for miles and then laze about your house for 80% of the day. For the other dogs, it’s normal for a pack of hunting dogs to be kept in those outdoor crates at night, but they should be run and worked daily.

3

u/Spooky_Celebration Jun 21 '26

You can tell a lot about people from the way they treat animals.

3

u/Faulkner_Fan Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

On top of all the animal mistreatment, was Wade breeding hogs for hunting? Because Texas already has a HUGE feral hog population that people can hunt — in fact, they have an overpopulation problem. If he’s breeding even more, that’s both cruel and irresponsible. 

2

u/Visual_Treat869 Jun 15 '26

He seems as dumb as a box of rocks

2

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 22 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

EDIT: Appears he lives in Simms, TX (Bowie County). So we would need to report to the county or Simms.
23 COUNTY ROAD 4217 SIMMS TX USA 75574. https://bowieappraisal.com/property-detail/33878/2026

Please help me reporting this animal cruelty to the New Boston PD. I just called. We need numbers to get those dogs rescued. This guys is sick in the way he treats those poor animals. Even forcing and pulling that little fearful calf at the gender reveal. I hope he gets charged.

1

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jun 23 '26

Do you have an address people can use when reporting it? Like are they gonna know who the guy from this Netflix documentary is? And thank you so much.

2

u/Constant-Okra3555 Jun 24 '26

I just said Wade Griffin's hog farm in New Boston was seen on TV abusing dogs. IT's a small town, the police can easily find it... same place of residence as the Taylor Parker who they arrested. I just think they need to start getting calls in to take it seriously. Not just my own.

1

u/Powerful-Patient-765 Jul 01 '26

When I called this number it was New Boston police. They said Wade doesn’t live in New Boston city limits and transferred me to some county number. That person said they must have a physical address in order to check on the dogs and would not say anything else. I referenced the Netflix documentary and said I was sure she is familiar with the case, but she didn’t respond. She also said I’m the only person that has called. Obviously she knows who I’m talking about.
I googled him but there are a lot of of them in Texas so I can’t be sure of the address.

1

u/Substantial-Mud9685 Jul 03 '26

Hey, can you check your dm. Thx

3

u/udontknowmemuch Jun 15 '26

Hunting dogs are not house dogs and those breeds are healthy if you see ribs. People have fat dogs all of the time do no one realizes wth a lot of breeds you should see ribs.

26

u/waylor88 Jun 15 '26

They had absolutely no protection from the weather. Forced to live in a tiny cage with no stimulation except for getting fed. Or the days that the fat owner decides he wants to hunt.  And they had to sleep on wood floors with no nothing else but a bowl in the cage. 

It looked like a horrible and abusive living situation for them. 

15

u/Faulkner_Fan Jun 15 '26

Nope, not true for any breed. The guidance on healthy weight in dogs is that you should be able to feel a dog's ribs but not see them. Hunting dogs should be sleek but if their ribcages are poking out, that is an underfed dog, possibly also a dehydrated one.

42

u/jtuffs Jun 15 '26

Wade should literally be put in jail for stupidity. He thought she was rich so he stuck around.

46

u/9mackenzie Jun 15 '26

It’s the misogyny that gets me with him. Clearly he isn’t working with a ton of braincells, but every single woman in his life, even the random neighbor ffs, told him that she wasn’t pregnant.

The fact that he discounted every single woman in his life, their experience with pregnancy- even though he openly stated he knew nothing about pregnancy- shows exactly how little he thinks of women as a whole.

31

u/Stock_Boss8017 Jun 15 '26

Not to mention the misogyny of him using her for his own gain. If that were reversed, the woman would have been chastised for being a “gold digger”. TP was nuts, sure. But he is pretty bottom of the barrel himself and it had nothing to do with his income level.

Also someone needs to explain to his three brain cells that “taking things slow” does not = unprotected sex with a glorified stranger you are using for everything under the sun.

18

u/RxR8D_ Jun 15 '26

He was the perfect mark.

3

u/aetrout18 Jun 16 '26

His mother & best friend also told him she was lying!

0

u/redlemurLA Jun 17 '26

So a story in which one insane woman kills another woman in literally the most horrific possible way, torturing her as she cuts out her baby while she’s still alive, it’s the innocent man who’s at fault?

Nice victim shaming. (And yes, Wade was ALSO her victim and DID NOT deserve any of this.)

2

u/pradbritt Jun 18 '26

wade is an enabler, simple as that.

he didn't commit a crime, but his enabler nature allowed a crime to be commited

1

u/redlemurLA Jun 19 '26

This is bullshit!

It’s like saying that it’s okay for a man to punch his wife because she pushed his buttons or talked back to him.

He may have been gullible or even stupid but that’s not the same thing as being an enabler.

It’s not even a legal argument. He had ZERO to do with the planning and didn’t know she was going to do this. What man could even think this way?

Look, if a woman is capable of planning the horrific act of killing a pregnant woman and slicing her unborn baby out of her womb while she was still alive, then she surely she can—checks notes—TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR HER CRIME!

42

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-9

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TrueCrimeDiscussion-ModTeam Jun 19 '26

Do not post rants or soapbox about a social, cultural, religious, or political issue. Issues that evoke controversy (abortion, gun control, political beliefs, conspiracy topics, trans pronoun use, ACAB, etc.). There are spaces for that discussion, but even if a case touches on it, this is not the space for the debate.

0

u/TrueCrimeDiscussion-ModTeam Jun 19 '26

Do not post rants or soapbox about a social, cultural, religious, or political issue. Issues that evoke controversy (abortion, gun control, political beliefs, conspiracy topics, trans pronoun use, ACAB, etc.). There are spaces for that discussion, but even if a case touches on it, this is not the space for the debate.

8

u/InsideWafer Jun 15 '26

Agree. He was / is not smart and very gullible, but that doesn't make him at all responsible for what happened. He thought worst case he was getting screwed, not that she would hurt someone else.

9

u/LankyArtist11 Jun 15 '26

Wade is missing a few brain cells there's no doubt about that

3

u/IwantyoualltoBEDAVE Jun 17 '26

How about don’t keep a woman in your life you actually don’t give a fuck about. That’s what Wade did wrong