dpNetflix‘s new true crime documentary pulls back the curtain on a murder that shocked the nation in 2020, leading to Taylor Parker becoming the youngest woman on Texas’s death row.
Maternal Instinct premiered on Netflix on June 12. The documentary unravels a headline-making crime that occurred in Texas in October 2020. Parker, then 27, claimed that she had given birth after she was pulled over by a state trooper on the way to the hospital.
However, once she was examined by doctors, it became clear that Parker had not recently given birth as she had claimed. In fact, Parker had had a hysterectomy after the birth of her second child, more than five years earlier. That meant the baby she said was hers — which was pronounced dead at the hospital — and her hog trapper boyfriend Wade Griffin’s was not. The infant, Braxlynn, was actually the child of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, who had hired Parker to photograph her wedding in 2019.
The dark truth? Parker attacked and killed Simmons-Hancock in her home and forcibly removed her baby from her womb in an attempt to pass the infant off as her own. It was a culmination of Parker lying for months about being pregnant.
Maternal Instinct uses interviews with those who knew Parker, as well as video clips, to paint a picture of how her deception led to horrific violence. Here is what happened to Parker, and the other people featured in the documentary, following her arrest.
What happened after Taylor Parker was arrested?
Parker was arrested on Oct. 9, 2020, on suspicion of killing Simmons-Hancock shortly after her death, when it became clear to authorities that Parker’s story about giving birth did not add up. In October 2022, Parker was convicted of capital murder in the death of Simmons-Hancock and the kidnapping and murder of her unborn baby.
In court, Parker did not show remorse for her crimes. Prosecutors accused her of cruelty when she wore a face covering to court that featured sunflowers — Simmons-Hancock’s favorite flower. The flower was prominently featured at her wedding, which Parker had photographed.
Prosecutors said Parker still schemed while behind bars. KTAL reported in 2022 that Parker continued to lie while in jail, even attempting to frame a mentally fragile inmate for Simmons-Hancock’s murder by penning false confession letters. She also allegedly told multiple lies about Simmons-Hancock’s murder to people she knew in jail, including one version in which Simmons-Hancock was killed in order for someone to frame Parker for murder, prosecutors said.
Where is Taylor Parker now?
Parker is being held at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas, about 40 miles from Waco. At 33 years old, she is the youngest of seven women currently on death row in the state. It is the same facility where Yolanda Saldívar, convicted of killing music superstar Selena Quintanilla, is currently serving a life sentence.
Parker appealed her conviction, citing what she said were multiple errors in the case. One major point Parker alleged was that her kidnapping conviction was invalid because Braxlynn was not legally “born and alive” at the time of the crime. However, the court rejected this due to a paramedic’s testimony that stated Braxlynn’s heartbeat was restored before her death. In 2025, Parker was denied a new trial.
In May 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear Parker’s case.
Parker after her arrest.
(Idabel Jail/AP)
Though Parker has exhausted all her direct appeals, an execution date will not be set until she moves through another process called habeas corpus review. This review allows her to raise challenges that were not a part of her original trial; it moves through state and federal courts. The process can take years, meaning that even though Parker is on death row, she likely won’t be scheduled for execution anytime soon.
The sole method for execution in the state of Texas is lethal injection.
Where are Taylor Parker’s children?
Before she faked her pregnancy, Parker had two children. She had a daughter named Emersyn, born when Parker was 17, with former boyfriend Donald Whiteside, and a son named Trey, born during her marriage to Tommy Wacasey. While Parker spent time with Emersyn, according to Maternal Instinct, Trey was not around his mother much during the time she faked being pregnant.
After Parker’s conviction, Wacasey obtained custody of Trey, who would be about 12 or 13 years old now. Parker’s mother was granted custody of Emersyn, who is now 16.
Where is Wade Griffin?
Not much is known about where things stand for Griffin today, though he did speak in the Maternal Instinct documentary to share his side of the story.
In 2022, Homer Hancock, the widower of Simmons-Hancock, filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against both Griffin and Parker. According to reporting from KTAL, the lawsuit alleged that Parker acted with reckless disregard for baby Braxlynn’s safety by driving erratically in Griffin’s vehicle after the crime, ultimately contributing to the infant’s death. Hancock alleged that since Griffin knew Parker was a reckless and incompetent driver and allowed her to use his car anyway, he shared responsibility for the infant’s death.
In court, Griffin stated that his involvement with Parker “pretty much ruined my whole reputation.”
“Slandered my name, my brothers, my mom,” he told the court. “Worst thing I’ve ever had to live through, for sure.”
Reagan Simmons-Hancock’s family wants to change the law
Simmons-Hancock’s family told People in June 2026 that they are working to enact legislation that would help protect pregnant women.
Simmons-Hancock’s mother, Jessica Brookes, and her sister, Emily Shirey, are specifically pushing for legislation that would allow medical professionals to warn people about women faking their own pregnancies, pointing to privacy gaps in the legal system that didn’t allow medical doctors who knew Parker wasn’t pregnant to reveal such information. While doctors could issue a “Code Pink” in order to put the hospital on alert for a person faking their pregnancy (who might be a risk to newborns, for example), individuals like Simmons-Hancock were not legally allowed to be informed.
While fetal abductions are rare, Simmons-Hancock is not the only victim. Between 1983 and 2015, there were 18 fetal abduction cases in the United States, the Guardian reported.
Reagan Simmons-Hancock.
(Facebook)
“The law really failed this family,” Maternal Instinct filmmaker Jessica Dimmock told People. “Doctors can’t go breaking laws. The laws exist for a reason, but it’s a real failure to see something happening and know that you’re not allowed to do anything about it. And I’m so hopeful that this will inform and possibly change further outcomes. I just really hope that this also shines light on things that are designed to protect us that can also end up having irreparable damage.”
