Murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock
2020 murder and fetal abduction case in Texas
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The murder of Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock (November 14, 1998 – October 9, 2020) was a case of murder and fetal abduction that occurred on October 9, 2020, in New Boston, Texas. The perpetrator, Taylor Rene Parker (born December 8, 1992),[1] bludgeoned and killed Simmons-Hancock, who was 35 weeks pregnant at the time, before she abducted the unborn fetus, Braxlynn Sage Hancock (died October 9, 2020) by cutting her out of the victim's abdomen, but the baby did not survive. Parker had previously lied to her then-boyfriend about being pregnant nine months leading up to the murder of Simmons-Hancock, and even faked her pregnancy to multiple persons. Parker was charged, tried and found guilty of capital murder, and sentenced to death on November 9, 2022.[2]
| Murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock | |
|---|---|
| Location | New Boston, Texas, U.S. |
| Date | October 9, 2020 |
Attack type | Murder by bludgeoning and stabbing, fetal abduction |
| Weapon | Knife |
| Victim | Reagan Simmons-Hancock, 21 |
| Verdict | Guilty |
| Convictions | Capital murder |
| Sentence | Death (November 9, 2022) |
| Convicted | Taylor Rene Parker |
Murder
On October 9, 2020, in New Boston, Texas, 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, who was 35 weeks pregnant, was attacked and killed by her friend, who also cut her abdomen to steal her unborn baby.[3]
Background of Parker
Prior to the murder, the perpetrator, 27-year-old Taylor Rene Parker, first befriended Simmons-Hancock while working as her engagement and wedding photographer. Based on background information, Parker became a mother at 17, and after breaking up with the father of her first child, Parker had a second child, a son, at age 21 during her first marriage to another man. Following complications from an ectopic pregnancy after a failed tubal ligation, she underwent a hysterectomy, leaving her unable to have more children. After divorcing her first husband in 2017, Parker was married a second time in 2018. Throughout her second marriage, Parker tried to seek her friends' help to serve as surrogate mothers as she hoped to have more children despite her hysterectomy. Her second marriage would also end with a divorce in 2019.[4][5]
After her second divorce, Parker began dating a man she met at a rodeo in 2019. Despite having worked at a staffing agency and OB-GYN clinic, Parker falsely claimed to be the heiress to an oil fortune and later told him she was pregnant. Over the next nine months, she sustained the deception using a silicone pregnancy belly and fake ultrasound images, even hosting a gender reveal party and maternity photoshoot.[5][6] Parker's first ex-husband later testified that he had anonymously warned her boyfriend about the false pregnancy and alleged that she had been unfaithful during their seven-year marriage and treated their son poorly.[7]
By late September 2020, Parker had not given birth despite claiming her due date had passed. She told her boyfriend she would deliver via C-section or induction at Titus Regional Medical Center in Texas on October 5. After a fire at her boyfriend's house and a bomb threat at the hospital, she changed her story, claiming she would instead give birth at McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, on October 9, 2020, the same date she committed the murder of Simmons-Hancock.[4]
Murder of Simmons-Hancock
On October 9, 2020, Parker drove to Simmons-Hancock's house in New Boston, Texas, and both Simmons-Hancock and her three-year-old daughter were present at home at the time of Parker's arrival. At the house, Parker brutally attacked Simmons-Hancock despite her pregnancy, using a knife to slash and stab the victim multiple times, and assaulted her as well. Forensic evidence also suggested that the attack occurred throughout several points in the house, indicating that Simmons-Hancock continued to move around the residence while attacked and also bled throughout these places, before she was down on the floor. The attack ultimately led to the death of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, and Parker performed a crude C-section to cut open the victim's stomach and removed the fetus, before she escaped the house. The victim's three-year-old daughter was left unharmed throughout the attack.[4][8]
After murdering Simmons-Hancock and stealing the baby, Parker continued to drive to Oklahoma, and while she was at De Kalb, Texas, Parker was stopped by a Texas state trooper, who noticed she was driving erratically. Parker lied to the trooper that she gave birth while on the road and that the baby was not breathing, and the trooper also noticed an umbilical cord (which was cut from Simmons-Hancock's stomach) going down her pants. Parker was therefore taken to a hospital in Oklahoma, where the baby girl, later named Braxlynn, was pronounced dead.[9][4]
Later, Parker began to raise the suspicion of the hospital authorities, as she refused to accept any check-ups from the doctors. Furthermore, test results later confirmed that the baby was not Parker's biological child. Following this revelation, and the discovery of Simmons-Hancock's body, Parker was arrested as a suspect behind the killing of Simmons-Hancock.[10][11]
Autopsy reports later showed that Simmons-Hancock sustained 113 sharp force injuries – 15 stab wounds and 98 incised wounds – and 39 blunt force injuries. The medical examiner, Dr. Melinda Flores, testified that two of the knife wounds perforated Reagan's jugular vein, and some were deep enough to reach the bone, and the blunt force injuries, likely inflicted with a hammer, resulted in both a broken nose and five skull fractures. Dr. Flores concluded that the cause of death was "homicide from traumatic extraction from the uterus with both sharp and blunt force injuries".[4][12] Dr. Stephen Hastings, a medical examiner from Dallas, determined that the baby died due to traumatic extraction from her mother's uterus, and further ruled that the baby's death was also a homicide. Dr. Hastings also stated that there were bruises on the baby's scalp and on the umbilical cord, meaning that some of the blows inflicted on Simmons-Hancock's abdomen also landed on the baby, and the trauma to the umbilical cord was possibly due to it being pulled or squeezed during the extraction.[13]
Charges
After her arrest in Oklahoma, Taylor Parker was arrested on suspicion of murdering both Reagan Simmons-Hancock and her unborn child. Parker agreed to be extradited back to Texas to face charges.[14][15] On October 15, 2020, Parker returned to Texas and was booked into the Bi-State Detention Center, and was charged with capital murder, murder and kidnapping.[16]
On December 11, 2020, A Bowie County grand jury formally indicted Parker for kidnapping and capital murder for the deaths of Simmons-Hancock and her unborn daughter.[17][18]
On January 22, 2021, Bowie County District Attorney Jerry Rochelle announced that he would seek the death penalty against Parker. Under Texas state law, the offence of capital murder carries either life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.[19][20]
On March 4, 2021, Parker was indicted on a second count of capital murder for the death of the victim's daughter.[21][22]
Murder trial of Parker
On September 12, 2022, Taylor Parker stood trial before a Bowie County jury for the capital murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock and murder of the victim's fetus.[23]
During her opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp submitted that Parker had a motive to kill the victim, and preceding the plot itself, she also conducted a sophisticated scheme to dupe her boyfriend and many others that she was pregnant despite her inability to do so after her hysterectomy.[24] Furthermore, the prosecution also brought forward evidence of Parker's past online searches on how to deliver a baby pre-term at 35 weeks of pregnancy and also to fake her pregnancy, which further indicated the premeditation and planning exhibited by Parker in murdering Simmons-Hancock.[25][26]
On October 3, 2022, Parker was found guilty of murder and capital murder by the jury after about an hour of deliberation.[27][28]
On October 12, 2022, Parker's sentencing trial began before the same jury. The prosecution sought the death penalty for Parker, citing the aggravating factors and heinous nature of the murder, including the number of wounds which Parker inflicted on Simmons-Hancock and emphasized that she was a danger to society. On the other hand, the defence argued against the death sentence and requested life without parole for Parker on the grounds of diminished responsibility at the time of the offence.[29][30]
On November 9, 2022, Parker was sentenced to death by the trial court upon the jury's unanimous recommendation for capital punishment. Prior to Parker's sentencing, Simmons-Hancock's mother called her an "evil piece of flesh demon" while she was giving her victim impact statement in court, and condemned Parker for murdering her daughter and slicing her stomach open to steal the baby.[31][32]
Parker's appeals
On November 6, 2025, Taylor Parker's first appeal was rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.[33][4]
On March 19, 2026, Parker filed an appeal for a review of her death sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court, and her counsel argued that their client did not receive a fair trial.[34]
On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Parker's appeal against her death sentence.[35][36]
Aftermath
Following her sentencing, Taylor Parker became the seventh woman on death row in Texas. She was also the first woman in the state to receive a death sentence in 12 years, since Kimberly Cargill was sentenced to death in June 2012 for the murder of her babysitter.[37]
In October 2022, Simmons-Hancock's widower filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Parker and her former boyfriend.[38]
In June 2026, a documentary, titled Maternal Instinct, which re-enacted the case of Parker and the murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock, was scheduled to air on Netflix.[39][5]
As of 2026, Parker remains incarcerated on death row at the Patrick O'Daniel Unit.[40]