Texas Woman Sentenced to Death For Killing Pregnant Woman to Take her Unborn Child
Texas woman Taylor Rene Parker was sentenced to death Wednesday for killing a pregnant woman she knew with the intention of taking her unborn baby.
Parker, 29, was convicted on October 3 on charges of capital murder in the murder of Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock, 21, and her child after only an hour of deliberation.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Parker told her boyfriend that she was pregnant and held a gender reveal party. In an attempt On October 9, 2020, Parker told her boyfriend she was going to a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma to preregister for labor to be induced.
Parker then went to the home of Simmons-Hancock in New Boston, Texas, and sliced her abdomen to retrieve her unborn child. Simmons-Hancock was 34 weeks pregnant when she was killed. Parker then took the baby, named Braxlynn Sage Hancock, in her car and drove away with her. Simmons-Hancock’s 3-year-old daughter was also at home at the time of the brutal murder.
Later that morning, Parker was pulled over by a state trooper in DeKalb for speeding and driving erratically, according to CBS News. The officer found Parker holding a baby in her lap with the umbilical cord still attached to the child and appearing to be coming from her pants. Parker was taken to the hospital in Idabel where medical staff determined she had not given birth to the child.
Authorities determined she caused the murder of both Simmons-Hancock and the infant because she could not provide the necessary care needed for the baby.
In a trial which lasted just under a month, multiple graphic images were shown to the jury of the crime scene. Homer Hancock, the husband of Simmons-Hancock, said that he and his wife “somewhat knew” Parker. She reportedly took their engagement and wedding photos.
The jury deliberated for an hour and fifteen minutes before reaching a guilty verdict. The same jury decided a month later whether her sentence should be the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Parker is now one of only seven women on death row in Texas.
