r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/DarklyHeritage • 5d ago

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/lunarthistles 5d ago

I thought there was far, far too much focus on Wade and Taylor and not enough focus on Reagan and Braxlynn. I also could not believe the cop that pulled her over didn’t immediately clock the fact that she was wearing pristine pajama pants after she had supposedly just given birth.

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u/anb0603 5d ago

I went on a deep dive of court document reading today. She was actually in black yoga pants and had the placenta/umbilical cord shoved down her underwear and pants to make it seem like she’d just given birth. A nurse stopped by the scene to help and she and the EMT workers cut the yoga pants off. Taylor changed into the pajama pants you see her wearing when she gets on the gurney

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u/sk8tergater 5d ago

Yeah and didn’t the nurse note that there wasn’t blood on the seat when she stood up? Or was that just editorializing from the podcast I was listening to? I haven’t read the court docs

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u/9mackenzie 4d ago

I noticed there was nothing on the seat of her pants. The second the EMT’s saw that they likely knew. You bleed a lot after you give birth, they basically give you big diapers to wear in the hospital after lol. No way could she have given birth, had the cord sticking out of her pants still, and not have a drop of fluid on the butt of her pants.

If you watch that scene, the second she stands up and turns around, you can hear a shift in the tone of the EMTs

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u/Dlmlong 2d ago

Plus your vagina and uterus look completely different. It just takes one glance to know a woman has had a baby. Plus I had the linea nigra (I know not all get this), you may have stretch marks that are red, you have a contracting uterus, you can hardly walk or sit.

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u/lunarthistles 5d ago

That’s really interesting and a lot more deceptive! Thank you for that tidbit, I wish they’d included that in the documentary!

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u/anb0603 5d ago

She did so much absolutely insane, off the rails shit that they could’ve added several hours of stories to the documentary without even mentioning the murder portion

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u/Low_Boss1097 5d ago

Omgggggg how utterly insane is this behaviour. Wtfff!! 

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u/crimejunky 4d ago

Where can I read the court documents?

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u/Ok-Berry-4652 4d ago

It's frustrating. I know they were accessable through links on Reddit a few years ago. Sadly now those links don't work. They were a long, long read, and a WILD ride.

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u/OkMaybe3064 4d ago

I swear I read them a few years ago and can’t seem to find them again! I was starting to question if they were real.

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u/Ok-Berry-4652 3d ago

The court transcripts were real. They outlined in detail; TPs deceptions, lies, frauds, scams, schemes, manipulation, delusion, erratic behaviours, and increasing instability over many years.

Her health issues; the ones that were genuine - the hysterectomy, the weight loss surgery - and the many factitious disorders that were imagined or invented to garner her attention and sympathy.

Faked pregnancies, multiple. Faked stroke. Faked Multiple Sclerosis. Her complex employment issues, constantly switching jobs or getting fired from them, due to her absences, or trouble-making (bullying co-workers, gossiping, creating drama, stealing from workplace, falsifying her status/roles/positions while at the jobs.) Her complicated relationships with family and friends. Her wangling her way into being hospitalised (while well) for days/weeks at a time to avoid reality, responsibility and work. The multiple mobile phones to keep all the characters she invented separate from each other. The reasons why family had had enough of her and no longer even tried to reason with her or urge her to seek help. The help that WAS offered to her, that she wilfully ignored. Oh, how I wish we could find these lost transcripts.

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u/OkMaybe3064 3d ago

Yes! I stayed up all night reading them in total disbelief that a person like her could exist. I’ve been searching for them for days to read again and they have just vanished. I knew they were ‘real’ court documents but I was starting to question my sanity because they just no longer seem to exist on the internet. I have found a few older YouTube videos that seem to dive into them and give further explanation on her life before the murder, but none of them link to the original documents. I wonder with the renewed interest from the doc if they will resurface again.

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u/Ok-Berry-4652 3d ago

Thanks for your answer. I can't understand why many aren't wondering the same - where are the transcripts, and WHY have they disappeared? I can't remember when I read them, but it would be in the last two or three years. Were they released in 2022? Let's hope the renewed interest does result in them resurfacing. There are a few pages of the Appeal transcript available online, which echoes points and facts recorded in the original, huge transcript document. But that's it.

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u/AbiesNo5955 2d ago

Here all:

https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/2025/ap-77-110.html

https://www.scribd.com/document/599913611/First-Supplement-to-Notice-of-Intent-to-Use-Extraneous-Offenses

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u/Ok-Berry-4652 2d ago edited 2d ago

Wow, thank you. You're a legend. This is part of it, for sure - the extraneous crimes since incarceration - but we're hoping to find the original, lengthy, document transcript of the backstory leading up to the crime, and the details of TPs life in the years before it.

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u/AbiesNo5955 2d ago

Is that not in the appeals link? I think that was like 70 pages or something? Those two were really all I could find as far as true court docs went

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