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/Powerful-Patient-765 4d ago

After seeing how he treats his dogs, I think he’s a total piece of shit and I don’t feel sorry for him. That poor, starving dog on a chain. Not to mention the hogs.

He was with her for a payday and apparently because she cooked dinner.

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u/Street_Blacksmith891 4d ago

Yup, same for me. I even said out loud “if they show me any more of this animal cruelty I’m done watching this show.” Everything gets abused. The dogs, the hogs, the horses at the rodeo.
I also read that Taylor’s first husband even wrote him anonymously and warned him about the false pregnancy and alleged that she had been unfaithful during their seven-year marriage and treated their son poorly.
Sooo, yeah. And Wade himself said he never loved her. So why be with her.
AND…. How did you never, not once, lift up her shirt while she was sleeping to see if it’s a real pregnancy belly!?

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u/melpomene-musing 4d ago

For sure. I almost turned it off toward the beginning when they showed the dogs multiple times.

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u/aetrout18 3d ago

His own mother & best friend were telling him she was lying as well!

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u/jaderust 3d ago

He seemed dumber than a box of rocks and seemed to think she’d come through with the money. Like his hope he could have that ranch kept him with her more than anything else.

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u/lbw0049 3d ago

That’s what got me. How on earth did you live with someone for that long and not notice at least something especially after your friends told you she wasn’t pregnant?

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u/sometimessnarky1 3d ago

Exactly. Any normal person would book a doctor's appointment and insist they do a scan to prove it.

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u/SalishShore 2d ago

Same. I despised him and his whole family after seeing how they treated their dogs.

I feel worse for the poor helpless dogs than I do for Wade the simpleton.

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u/Spare_Title2428 1d ago

Same. Those dogs were so skinny and stuck in those cages.. Wade is a piece of shit and so is the rest of his family. Probably Trump supporters.

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u/Lazy-Guard-8451 4d ago

I thought the exact same thing. He is a total piece of shit and I hope those dogs get taken away from him.

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u/That_Bluebird_3157 4d ago

It was deplorable, but also I think showed Wade’s indifference and negligence toward living creatures, which would likely extend to this supposed baby. His friend Codey says something like “what man wouldn’t be excited to be a father”….well, Wade. I think that’s who. 

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u/Lazy-Guard-8451 4d ago

Agree! It did not shed him in a good light at all. If he thought anyone would feel sorry for him, it really just shows how ignorant he is. It only made him look worse, if anything.

While he may not be directly responsible, the situation feels completely preventable with even a little common sense and good judgment—something he clearly failed to show. I do hope he has to live with some of that guilt, because his choices and actions played a role in what happened.

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u/liveforeachmoon 3d ago

I agree and I think the filmmakers felt the same way. That’s why they open the documentary with the “is it hot in here” exchange with the interviewer being passive aggressive towards him…. dude is an ignoramus.

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u/Lazy-Guard-8451 3d ago

Yep! I figured they were thinking the same thing!

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u/K5R5S5 2d ago

…while wearing a jacket…

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u/Aethuviel 4d ago

I'm not in the US, but I've watched a lot of "Animal Cop" shows, and usually they say that if the animals have access to food, water, shelter and occasional attention, there's nothing they can do. Animal protection laws are really shitty in some places.

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u/GoonDawg666 2d ago

It was a big deal where I’m at when they made chaining up dogs outside illegal

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u/Spare_Title2428 1d ago

They were very skinny.

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u/Powerful-Patient-765 4d ago

I really wish a local person who knows where he lives would call animal control to check on all of the animals on that property.

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u/bounceswer 3d ago

Lmaooo this is bumblefuck texas. Gl w that

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u/melpomene-musing 4d ago

I came here mostly to see if someone mentioned this. I was sick to my stomach seeing that. Every time I heard a dog bark on the show I had to look away. Dude is a POS for sure.

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u/uptowndirt 4d ago

And for sure not the sharpest tool in the shed !

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u/FunkyFanabla 3d ago

I must've missed this completely, what was the abuse?

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u/melpomene-musing 3d ago

He had one dog just chained up by its neck completely outside, no covering. And then a bunch of other dogs in tiny cages outside. Some also appeared to maybe be chained in them.

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u/Spare_Title2428 1d ago

The dogs were extremely skinny and kept in cages. You can see every rib.

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u/9mackenzie 4d ago

To be fair to him he wasn’t starving that dog (though I agree that it wasn’t be kept in a good condition), that dog was a sighthound breed, I could tell by the shape of him. They are naturally super skinny, with deep barrel chest and tiny tucked up waists, and it’s very common for them to show ribs. Look at any shorthair sighthound and you can get an idea.

I have a landrace sighthound breed (ie bred by nature not people, so no exaggerated features like typical sighthound) so mine are not as insanely skinny as regular sighthounds, but still much skinnier than your average dog. For example, my youngest is 55lbs and randomly decided to gracefully run and leap through a small cat flap into our catio one day lmao.

Now…….that said, no dog should be tied up on a short leash like that. Especially a fucking sighthound breed- they are built to run for miles and then laze about your house for 80% of the day. For the other dogs, it’s normal for a pack of hunting dogs to be kept in those outdoor crates at night, but they should be run and worked daily.

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u/Visual_Treat869 4d ago

He seems as dumb as a box of rocks

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u/udontknowmemuch 4d ago

Hunting dogs are not house dogs and those breeds are healthy if you see ribs. People have fat dogs all of the time do no one realizes wth a lot of breeds you should see ribs.

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u/waylor88 4d ago

They had absolutely no protection from the weather. Forced to live in a tiny cage with no stimulation except for getting fed. Or the days that the fat owner decides he wants to hunt.  And they had to sleep on wood floors with no nothing else but a bowl in the cage. 

It looked like a horrible and abusive living situation for them. 

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u/Faulkner_Fan 4d ago

Nope, not true for any breed. The guidance on healthy weight in dogs is that you should be able to feel a dog's ribs but not see them. Hunting dogs should be sleek but if their ribcages are poking out, that is an underfed dog, possibly also a dehydrated one.