Texas Woman Gets Death Penalty For Killing Woman To Take Unborn Baby

On Wednesday, Nov. 9, a Texas jury found a woman guilty of murdering a pregnant woman with the intent to kidnap her unborn child and sentenced her to death.

After just over an hour of deliberation, the jury returned with Taylor Parker's sentence, according to the Texarkana Gazette. The same Bowie County jury found Parker guilty of capital murder on Oct. 3 in the 2020 killing of Reagan Simmons-Hancock, age 21, whose unborn child was removed from her womb but did not survive.

In a statement to the court, Simmons-Hancock’s mother addressed Parker as an “evil piece of flesh demon.”

“My baby was alive still fighting for her babies when you tore her open and ripped her baby from her stomach,” Jessica Brooks said.

The body of Simmons-Hancock was discovered on Oct. 9, 2020, at her residence in New Boston, a town of 4,600 people located 160 miles northeast of Dallas. Her 3-year-old daughter was at home when her mother was killed.

Later that morning, after being stopped by a state trooper for speeding and erratic driving, Parker claimed that she had just given birth. Braxlynn Sage Hancock, the infant, was transferred to a hospital in Oklahoma, where doctors declared her dead.

According to the prosecution, Parker made herself appear pregnant, faked ultrasounds, and even held a gender reveal party in an effort to maintain her boyfriend.

Simmons-husband, Hancock's Homer Hancock, testified that Parker and his wife were “somewhat friends,” and that Parker had captured their wedding and engagement photos.

In her closing remarks, the prosecutor Kelley Crisp showed the jury a photograph of Simmons-Hancock at the crime scene, covered in blood on the ground. She informed the jury that Parker should receive the death penalty because she poses a threat. She said that Simmons-Hancock was assaulted and "slashed" numerous times in addition to having her unborn child torn from her womb.

Parker’s attorney, Jeff Harrelson, told jurors in closing statements that “words can be used to dehumanize,” and said that there are “layers” and “shades of gray” to people’s lives.

“She is a human,” he said.

Parker's friends and family, according to Harrelson, let her down by not confronting her about the fake pregnancy.