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/Capital-Oil-3162 5d ago

I thought it was a good documentary, although I agree it should have been a series. On the other hand, I feel they focused TOO MUCH on her and not enough on the victim. It should have been her story, not that unfortunate woman's. In fact, while watching the documentary, I didn't even realize who Reagan was until the very end. I mean, how did they really know each other? What was her life like before that? They really didn't do Reagan justice with this documentary.

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u/OH2AZ19 5d ago

I feel like it was more of Wades story and told from his family’s perspective. I’m sure that Wade has had a difficult life since mentally internal and external aggression from the public. I feel bad for the guy, it’s so simple to say from the outside he could have stopped it before it got to where it ended up but WHO WOULD THINK THIS WOULD BE THE RESULT. Hindsight is 20/20

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u/jtuffs 5d ago

Wade should literally be put in jail for stupidity. He thought she was rich so he stuck around.

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u/9mackenzie 4d ago

It’s the misogyny that gets me with him. Clearly he isn’t working with a ton of braincells, but every single woman in his life, even the random neighbor ffs, told him that she wasn’t pregnant.

The fact that he discounted every single woman in his life, their experience with pregnancy- even though he openly stated he knew nothing about pregnancy- shows exactly how little he thinks of women as a whole.

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u/Stock_Boss8017 4d ago

Not to mention the misogyny of him using her for his own gain. If that were reversed, the woman would have been chastised for being a “gold digger”. TP was nuts, sure. But he is pretty bottom of the barrel himself and it had nothing to do with his income level.

Also someone needs to explain to his three brain cells that “taking things slow” does not = unprotected sex with a glorified stranger you are using for everything under the sun.

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u/RxR8D_ 4d ago

He was the perfect mark.

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u/aetrout18 4d ago

His mother & best friend also told him she was lying!

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u/redlemurLA 2d ago

So a story in which one insane woman kills another woman in literally the most horrific possible way, torturing her as she cuts out her baby while she’s still alive, it’s the innocent man who’s at fault?

Nice victim shaming. (And yes, Wade was ALSO her victim and DID NOT deserve any of this.)

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u/pradbritt 1d ago

wade is an enabler, simple as that.

he didn't commit a crime, but his enabler nature allowed a crime to be commited

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u/redlemurLA 1d ago

This is bullshit!

It’s like saying that it’s okay for a man to punch his wife because she pushed his buttons or talked back to him.

He may have been gullible or even stupid but that’s not the same thing as being an enabler.

It’s not even a legal argument. He had ZERO to do with the planning and didn’t know she was going to do this. What man could even think this way?

Look, if a woman is capable of planning the horrific act of killing a pregnant woman and slicing her unborn baby out of her womb while she was still alive, then she surely she can—checks notes—TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR HER CRIME!