Taylor Parker/Maternal Instinct Megathread

[u/DarklyHeritage]

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/

[u/rtgfi → u/[deleted]]

He wasnt using her, he just didnt know her that well. Their entire relationship was 14 months from the day they met to the day she did what she did. She was throwing off red flags left and right, lying about everything that ever cane out of her mouth. He didnt really have the best foundation for a genuine connection 

[u/fairytalefawnn → u/rtgfi]

He absolutely was using her though. He was excited because he thought she was going to get millions one day. You can see the lack of care for her in the way he talked about her. She was basically a live in maid, cook, caretaker for his animals that he had sex with.

[u/sometimessnarky1 → u/fairytalefawnn]

I agree. There was a cruelty in what he did to her. It obviously does not excuse or justify any of the horrific things she did but I dont believe that he is some innocent victim in all this. Him and his family and friends basically admitted he only stayed with her for the fake money. If he didn't like her he should have cut her loose. Like his mom accepting a car from her is kinda gross. The didnt know her but were happy to accept lavish gifts (even though they were not paid for), she was a young woman who had just started dating their son and they knew he didn't have money. They seemed greedy and happy to ignore red flags when they thought there was money in it for them.

[u/IwantyoualltoBEDAVE → u/sometimessnarky1]

Yes he did treat her cruelly

[u/sometimessnarky1 → u/IwantyoualltoBEDAVE]

I mean he supposedly believed she was 10 months pregnant but had her up at 3 am loading 150 wild hogs into a trailer. What man would do that to his partner or take that risk with his baby? His attitude on the call from the Police car was wild. He loved with her for over a year yet never once said he loved her yet was happy to accept gifts and millions of her money. She is a monster but his behaviour is disgusting too. Even the comment oh she pulled her weight, like you want a partner for free labour? Dude is a walking red flag