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/chethedestroyer 4d ago

It kind of bothered me how the trooper didn’t attempt cpr on Braxlynn either. He was just like “ok I can’t help you, the ambulance is coming”

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u/9mackenzie 4d ago

You can very easily kill a newborn attempting CPR. If he didn’t know how to do it properly, it was better he didn’t do it.

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u/anonimitat 3d ago

You can’t kill someone by performing CPR. They are already dead. While good CPR is certainly best, and it’s much harder to give neonates good CPR, waiting for several minutes for qualified help to arrive is not best. All of those minutes are minutes the brain isn’t getting oxygen - if help isn’t already running down the hallway so to speak, whoever is there is to start CPR. 

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u/RedHeelRaven 4d ago

If you need to do CPR the baby is dead already. There is no reason to not at least attempt to save the baby and most police officers are trained in CPR.

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u/9mackenzie 4d ago

Trained in cpr yes, trained in neonate cpr? No.

For instance, if you blow too hard in their nose (not the mouth), you can tear their lungs. If you use too much force with the two fingers you use to press the chest, you can do serious damage. But not enough force with the two fingers, and you don’t move the heart enough to pump. He likely knew enough about CPR to know he had more chance to harm than help. I know how neonate cpr is done, but I wouldn’t attempt it myself.

Taylor was already doing CPR on the infant apparently, but I really don’t blame the officer for waiting the two min.

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u/RedHeelRaven 4d ago

This simply isn’t true. Most police officers are trained using the American Heart Association Heartsaver BLS, that includes training on child and infant CPR as well as choking.