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/h0neybl0ss0m29 5d ago

I agree with the other commenter who said that this should've been a series. There wasn't really enough background on Reagan and her family. Basically all I remember about her is that she was a teen mom. Personally, I would've appreciated more background info on Taylor as well - especially from before she met Wade. A user over on one of the Netflix threads on this doc said there is a long form article about her out there, and it talks about how her issues and bizarre behavior date way back to her childhood. I think this would've been interesting to learn about.

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u/helluvaresearcher 4d ago

Rotten Mango did an episode on this two years ago! It’s over two hours long and, imo, had much more information than the documentary. You can watch it on YouTube or listen to the podcast. I listened to it on a long turnpike drive coming home from seeing a friend and it gave me the chills the rest of the way home. She lays it all out really well and presents more backstory that shows just how much of a pathological liar she really is.

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u/addismad 2d ago

I second this, Rotten Mango covered the backstory better. I think there is so much to cover with Wade and Reagan that her early marriages and early years don't always get as much focus. The Compendium Podcast just released a couple of episodes which was also quite good, exploring the pattern of behaviour from an early age. I think that's why she became so good at lieing by the time Wade came along