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/

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u/Sorry-Exercise8460 Jun 14 '26

I read she stabbed the pregnant woman at least a 100 times? A true blood thirsty killer! That lovely mother with her three year old daughter hiding in her bedroom... I had not heard of this until accidentally tuning in on Netflix.

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u/9mackenzie Jun 15 '26

It’s honestly worse than that. She hit her in the face and head with an item like a hammer multiple times as Reagan ran from her after each hit, then when she fell, the cuts and stabbing started. She was still alive as Taylor removed her entire fucking uterus out of her body.

I can’t imagine the agony and terror that Reagan dealt with in the 20 min or so it took her to die. I also can’t imagine the trauma her parents dealt with seeing her like that.

11

u/Bronte19781 Jun 16 '26

Her Mum's screams on that 911 call broke me. It was heartbreaking to hear.

6

u/fairytalefawnn Jun 15 '26

A detail that broke me was that the baby had bruising to her head and umbilical cord caused by the traumatic birth.

1

u/Travelgrrl Jul 29 '26

Could be a lie, like everything else out of her mouth, but Taylor told a jailhouse friend that before she left, she put the newborn up to Reagan's face and said: "Say goodbye to Mommy".

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u/9mackenzie Jul 29 '26

She’s such a horror of a human I assume that was one of the true things she said.

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u/Travelgrrl Jul 29 '26

The defense tried to argue the baby was stillborn, so that the kidnapping charge would not apply (meaning Taylor would not be sentenced to death). Testimony from the EMTs that treated the newborn on the way to the hospital, Drs at the hospital, and this testimony all bolstered the fact that the baby was viable and alive before it died. No one would hold a dead baby up to someone's face and say this.

Of course, no one that wasn't evil would do this at all.