When Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock was found dead inside her New Boston, Texas, home on October 9, 2020, it became evident early on that she was a victim of fetal abduction. The 21-year-old was 35 weeks pregnant when she was attacked by someone she considered a friend, who then went on to cut her abdomen to steal her unborn baby girl, Braxlynn Sage Hancock. Unfortunately, as explored in Netflix’s ‘Maternal Instinct,’ the baby did not survive either, but she did inadvertently play a crucial role in helping authorities identify the assailant as Taylor Parker.
Taylor Parker’s Early Years Weren’t Smooth Sailing
Although Taylor Rene Parker was born in 1993 into a good, religious, southern household to Shonna Prior and Mark Morton, her childhood was far from comfortable, easy, or stable. That’s because her parents separated when she was merely 12 years old in 2005, following which she and her younger brother Zachary Morton witnessed a lot of the animosity between them. The former couple wanted to co-parent and share custody of their two children, but their daughter ended up spending more time with her father, while their son largely remained with his mother.
According to records, Taylor was quite active as a young girl in elementary school because she not only thrived as a competitive cheerleader but was also a baseball and basketball athlete. However, things changed when she was in third grade, as she started having stomach issues that lasted the entire year, not long after which she began relying on food as a source of solace. Thus began her weight issues, which persisted even after she welcomed a daughter with her then-boyfriend, Donald Whiteside, at age 17 and a son with her first husband, Tommy Wacasey, at age 21.
Taylor Parker Has a Reported History of Deception
It was reportedly while Taylor was building a life with Tommy Wacasey that she began experiencing a lot of pelvic pain and bleeding, resulting in her consulting a doctor by the summer of 2015. The mother 2 was struggling to such an extent that she agreed when a doctor suggested surgery to find out what was wrong, and it turned out to be both endometriosis and an ectopic pregnancy. The doctors subsequently did the safest thing for her by performing a hysterorectomy, which Tommy consented to despite believing it would hurt his wife a lot since she was a family woman.
What Tommy didn’t know was that Taylor had already opted for a tubal ligation a year prior, after they had welcomed their son into this world – she reportedly hadn’t told anybody about it. According to court records, the mother of two had also undergone a gastric sleeve surgery at one point to help with her weight issues, the success of which made her confidence rise even higher. All of these factors combined reportedly put a lot of strain on her union with Tommy, culminating in their decision to divorce in 2017. Little did anybody know she would get married a second time just a year later and become determined to expand her family despite her hysterectomy. As per records, Taylor so desperately wanted to have more kids that she not only asked her mother to donate her uterus in a text but also tried to convince her friends to possibly serve as a surrogate. Yet, her second marriage also ended in divorce in 2019, not long after which she began dating Wade Griffin after first coming across him at a rodeo.
The new couple had only been going out for a few weeks in July when she told him she was pregnant with twins, before later claiming she sadly lost them in an accident. Taylor soon also told her boyfriend that while she worked at a staffing agency and a gynecology clinic, she was actually the heiress to a syrup fortune from her grandparents’ side. She allegedly said she had to work because her mother was interfering with her inheritance, but the truth was that no big funds were coming her way at all because she was no heiress. Nevertheless, she still encouraged Wade to buy cattle, his dream $87,000 pickup truck, an $80,000 tractor, and other expensive items, all the while also looking into buying a $20 million property with him for their own ranch. During this period, she giddily told him she was pregnant again, later revealing they were going to have a daughter in September 2020. She even backed her lies with fake ultrasound images, a silicone pregnancy belly, a gender reveal party, and a maternity photoshoot.
Taylor Parker Was Caught Within Hours of the Murder
Since Taylor didn’t really show any signs of pregnancy and rumors of her deception were swirling around, Wade’s loved ones grew worried over time. They thus began looking into her, learning she was no heiress and had previously often lied about her medical conditions/needs. According to the Netflix documentary, she had told her friends at different points in time that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, was in treatment for cancer, had a brain tumor, and had suffered a stroke. However, there has never been any proof of the same. As if that’s not enough, even her mother confirmed to Wade’s mother that Taylor could never physically get pregnant again because of her 2015 hysterectomy. It turns out Tommy had also tried to relay this fact to Wade anonymously, but the roofing company supervisor was not ready to hear any of it. As per his account, he didn’t love Taylor and had also never said those three words to her, but he was excited to have a daughter, whom they had already named Clancy Gaile Griffin.
Taylor’s claimed due date was in September 2020, so after that had come and gone, she told her boyfriend she was now scheduled to deliver by induction or c-section on October 5. Yet, that morning, there was a fire under his house and a bomb threat at the hospital she was allegedly supposed to be admitted to, resulting in the matter being postponed. That’s when she told Wade she would now give birth at McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, on October 9, 2020, only to send him to do a job while promising she would meet him there later on. So, in the early hours of the fateful day, she made her way to Reagan Simmons-Hancock’s home in New Boston, Texas, where she committed a murder and a fetal abduction. Taylor and Reagan were friends – the former had photographed the victim’s wedding, after which they remained in touch.
Less than half an hour later, Taylor was stopped by a State Trooper in De Kalb, Texas, for driving erratically, just for her to claim she had given birth on the side of the road and the baby wasn’t breathing. She was already on call with 911 and claimed to both the dispatcher and the officer that she was on her way to McCurtain Memorial Hospital when she began having contractions. Therefore, upon seeing the newborn baby on her lap and the umbilical cord, it was decided they should wait for help to arrive, following which she was taken to the hospital in Oklahoma. That’s where the baby was sadly pronounced dead, and a medical professional confirmed there was no sign of Taylor having been pregnant or having given birth that morning.
Taylor Parker is One of the Seven Women Currently on Death Row in Texas
Taylor was arrested on suspicion of murdering both Reagan Simmons-Hancock and her unborn child in Oklahoma on the day of the incident itself, following which she agreed to be extradited. The 27-year-old returned to Texas 6 days later, on October 15, 2020, and was immediately booked into the Bi-State Detention Center for the charges of capital murder, murder, and kidnapping. A few months later, on March 4, 2021, she was indicted on a second count of capital murder for the death of the newborn baby girl, named Braxlynn Sage Hancock. She stood a jury trial for the same in September 2022, during which prosecutors painted a picture of her web of deceptions with evidence from her many cell phones and other electronic devices.
In the end, on October 3, 2022, the jury found Taylor guilty of murder and capital murder after just about an hour of deliberations. A month later, on November 9, 2022, she was handed down the death penalty based on the jury’s recommendation of capital punishment. That’s when she became the seventh woman to be on Texas’ death row, which is where she remains after losing an appeal in November 2025 and the Supreme Court declining to review her case in May 2026. Therefore, today, at age 33, Taylor is awaiting her execution at the high-security Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas, but a date for the same has not yet been set.
In early 2025, Taylor gave an exclusive interview to The New Yorker, revealing she didn’t initially believe the charges against her. She said, “I told myself, ‘You didn’t do what they said. It’s lies.’ My realization came when I had to face the autopsy photos.” Then, she revealed that despite her appeals, she believes she is where she belongs. “It’s the hardest thing to admit, but I do not believe in going home for myself. My place is here (in prison). I stand firm on the belief you do not deserve to have something you took from another. That’s part of the acknowledgment and acceptance process on the road to redemption.”
Read More: Wade Griffin: Where is Taylor Parker’s Former Boyfriend Now?
