Taylor Parker, a Texas inmate convicted of murdering her pregnant friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock and abducting her unborn child, recounted the gruesome details of the Oct. 9, 2020, attack during a court interrogation, claiming the victim, 21, had ordered Parker to remove the baby from her womb. Parker, now 33 and the youngest woman on death row in Texas, described using a mason jar to bash Simmons-Hancock before performing a C-section with a scalpel.
Video from the Bowie County, Texas court interrogation, obtained by TMZ, captured Parker stating, "She was screaming [to] take her out." Parker clarified that "her" referred to Simmons-Hancock's unborn child, Braxlynn, and that the victim said, "I'm dying. She was talking to me."
Parker recalled hitting Simmons-Hancock with the mason jar, which caused multiple skull fractures, and then using a scalpel to cut into the victim's stomach. She stated she told Simmons-Hancock, "Just push." Parker admitted she did not know how to perform a C-section.
Prosecutors stated during Parker's trial that she faked her own pregnancy for 10 months to deceive her partner, Wade Griffin, and prevent him from leaving her. Parker had undergone a hysterectomy and could not conceive. She reportedly used pregnancy disguises, faked ultrasounds, posted about her pregnancy online, and held a gender reveal party. Special Agent Dustin Estes of the Texas Department of Public Safety testified that Parker had watched YouTube videos on infant care and delivery.
Parker was arrested near the Oklahoma border while driving the deceased infant to an Oklahoma hospital. She had told her partner she was going to the hospital and planned to tell medical staff she had given birth on the roadside. Her actions have been documented in the Netflix true crime documentary "Maternal Instinct."