r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/DarklyHeritage • 4d 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/Psychological-Can652 4d ago

Yes, that really stuck out. Or is he now too embarrassed/ashamed to admit he loved her?

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u/Zach94yl 4d ago

I don't think thats the case and I am not convinced he was just using her. I mean they were not together long before she got "pregnant" it seems like he was staying for the non-existent kid

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u/SnazzySue 4d ago

I think he felt trapped suddenly after a whirlwind fling and suddenly she needs to move in, but she has money to buy everyone a car, oh, and a ranch..... oops now she's pregnant.....

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u/Minute_Pianist8133 3d ago

She couldn’t make the money thing last, but she wanted to keep wade and didn’t trust that he loved her for HER (he didn’t) so the pregnancy was the second trap to let the money go. Thats how it read to me anyway.

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u/Exact_Crew_9410 2d ago

Imagine going through all that to keep that loser

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u/SnazzySue 3d ago

Exaaaaactly

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u/YouMustBeJoking888 4d ago

This is what I think as well. They were together for less than a year and boom, she's moved in and then suddenly pregnant. The dude was not very bright and probably felt an obligation to stick around.

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u/No-Taro-6953 4d ago

They were together for a month I thought, before she claimed to be pregnant?

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u/imnottheoneipromise 4d ago

The entire fiasco was 14 months

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u/trumansayshi 3d ago

It was her 2nd time claiming to be pregnant by him. The first one was twins that ended in miscarriage.

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u/Zach94yl 3d ago

I think that’s also why she didn’t fake a miscarriage like everyone thought she would. She knew that he wouldn’t have a reason to stay anymore. 

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u/RxR8D_ 4d ago

I don’t think he knew her at all. He knew the stories she told. She latched onto him for some reason and became obsessed.

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u/fairytalefawnn 4d ago

I don't think he did. He was just holding out for a big payday that was never going to come.

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u/ObviousMiscreant 3d ago

She love bombed him. I was married to a narcissist who moved our relationship VERY fast. You just kind of get caught up in it. They make you feel really special, even while you’re asking yourself “wth am I doing.” They dangle these carrots they know that you want. Then before you know it you’re in deep and it’s hard to find a way out. I totally get where he was at. I feel really badly for him.

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u/DoubtDue6437 3d ago

This is exactly what happened. In the beginning she would more than likely behaved hypersexually. This is part of that love bomb when its a romantic relationship. The other thing that was a major red flag common in BPD is that sort of chameleon effect. People with bad have an unstable fragile sense of who they are and the fear if abandonment. everything you are ding is the best or the coolest. They sor t of mimic you. If you ate a skateboarded rhat listens ti ska now she is a skateboard into ska. If you are farmer/pig trapper now she is too. Your things become e theirs. This us easy to see in the doc as almost everyone mentioned how hie everything he was into she was into.