Taylor Parker’s Life on Death Row as ‘Maternal Instinct’ Hits Netflix

Taylor Parker is awaiting her execution in Texas.

Netflix recently released its’ newest true crime documentary Maternal Instinct, exploring the 2020 murder of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock. She was killed by Parker, who faked a pregnancy for months while Simmons-Hancock was also with child.

She ultimately murdered the soon-to-be mother and stole her unborn child.

A jury convicted Parker, now 33, of capital murder in 2022 and sentenced her to be executed, making her the youngest woman on death row in Texas.

In November 2025, she attempted to appeal the verdict. However, the Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Until her execution, which has not yet been scheduled, Parker will remain by bars at Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas.

Parker had not known her victim for long before the murder. They had met the year prior when she was hired to photograph Simmons-Hancock’s wedding.

The two instantly hit it off. Parker had even joined in on selfies with the bridesmaids.

Simmons-Hancock and Parker kept in touch after the wedding. In 2020, when Simmons-Hancock had revealed to her friend that she was pregnant, Parker echoed the news.

Over the next few months, Parker played the part. After telling her boyfriend Wade Griffin of the news, she bought baby clothes and began wearing a fake pregnancy belly.

Not long before Simmons-Hancock’s due date, Parker said she would be induced the next day.

“Reagan felt like Taylor was probably overwhelmed with everything,” Simmons-Hancock’s mom, Jessica Brookes, said. “She was trying to be that one person there for her when nobody else was.”

The next day, Parker went to Simmons-Hancock’s house and killed the expectant mother and extracted her unborn baby.

Parker then attempted to pass the baby off as her own, even inserting the umbilical cord into her pants once she was pulled over by police.

She pleaded with the authorities to take her to the hospital because the baby wasn’t breathing.

Doctors quickly determined Parker hadn’t given birth and she was taken into custody.

Neither Simmons-Hancock nor her daughter survived.