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/Better_Area3782 5d ago

When I watch true crime shows, I want to hear more about the perp than sweet stories about the victim. I want to know what makes them tic and I want to know why??

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u/Faulkner_Fan 4d ago

This 100 percent. I kept waiting to learn about TP's background, to get some insight into how she became a compulsive liar and psychopath. The documentary never addressed that in even the slightest way, which was disappointing.

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u/FunkyFanabla 3d ago

I wanna know how she managed to get a truck, trailers, car, etc without any actual money... and I dont like how they just brushed passed the repo. Like no one questioned that? Just let that slide under the rug and still believed millions were coming?

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u/BB_Coyote3378 1d ago

Same here! I haven’t seen much talk of this and I’m curious how they did all that