5 Disturbing Details Missing from “Maternal Instinct,” Including the Debate Over Killer Taylor Parker's Mental State
5 Disturbing Details Missing from “Maternal Instinct,” Including the Debate Over Killer Taylor Parker's Mental State
Caroline BlairWed, June 17, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC
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Taylor ParkerCredit: Kelley Mae May/Netflix; Idabel Police Department -
Taylor Parker killed pregnant Reagan Simmons-Hancock and kidnapped her unborn baby
Parker had been faking a pregnancy for 10 months and attempted to pass the stolen infant off as her own
The 2020 case is now the subject of the Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct
Maternal Instinct tells the shocking true story of Reagan Simmons-Hancock's brutal murder.
Simmons-Hancock was a 21-year-old mother who was expecting her second child, her first with her husband, Homer Hancock. She was around 35 weeks pregnant with their daughter, Braxlynn, on Oct. 9, 2020, when she was murdered by her wedding photographer-turned-friend Taylor Parker. Parker went on to kidnap Simmons-Hancock's unborn baby, who later died.
In the months leading up to the double murder, Parker had been faking a pregnancy (she could not get pregnant because of a hysterectomy). By the time she committed the horrific crime, Parker was nearly two weeks past her supposed due date.
She was subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder, murder and kidnapping. Parker was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in November 2022.
While Maternal Instinct, which hit the streamer on June 12, covered several aspects of the case, there was only so much the documentary could cover in less than two hours.
Here's everything to know about the disturbing details left out of Maternal Instinct.
Parker was married twice before meeting Wade Griffin and had two kids
Wade Griffin and Taylor ParkerCredit: Kelley Mae May/Netflix
The Netflix doc included some commentary from Parker's former friends shedding light on her personality, but it didn't go into detail on her past relationships or the children she had welcomed before the murder.
Parker had her first child, daughter Emersyn, when she was 17 years old in 2009, according to court documents. She welcomed Emersyn with her ex, Donald Whiteside, but he wasn't involved in raising their daughter, according to Parker's mom, Shona Prior, per KTAL News.
Parker then married Tommy Wacasey, with whom she welcomed a son named Trey when she was 21 years old. Parker and Wacasey separated in 2017 and finalized their divorce in March 2018, Wacasey's divorce attorney Eric Marks, testified in court, according to KTAL News. Parker allegedly did not have custody of Trey because she had not fought for it when she and Wacasey divorced, per KTAL.
Just 11 days after the divorce was finalized, Parker went on to marry her second husband, Hunter Parker, according to the outlet. During her trial, Hunter testified that Parker wanted to have a baby with him, but she couldn't become pregnant because of a hysterectomy she had undergone (something he claimed she only told him after they were married).
Two of her former friends testified that Parker asked them to be a surrogate for her and offered both of them six figures if they would say yes, per court documents.
Hunter further alleged that Parker told him she suffered from several medical ailments and pretended to be sick in order to encourage him to stay married to her. In addition to the alleged medical issues, Hunter also claimed that Parker used an alias to try to convince him that she was receiving a large inheritance.
Hunter separated from Parker, and they got divorced in the summer of 2019. By August of that year, she moved on with Wade Griffin. When Hunter learned via social media that Parker was claiming to be pregnant, he said he reached out to Griffin's brother to tell him that Parker had had a hysterectomy, but he never directly spoke with Griffin, per KTAL.
Parker alleges a hysterectomy was performed on her without her consent
Although the Netflix documentary explicitly stated that Parker could not become pregnant because of a hysterectomy, it left out her allegations that the procedure was performed without her consent.
The documentary includes an interview with OB/GYN Dr. Christopher Mason from Mount Pleasant, Texas, who was Parker's doctor. He recalled that after having her second child, Parker made the decision to undergo a "permanent sterilization — physically blocking the tubes so that you can't have children anymore."
Dr. Mason maintained that she went through the required wait period for a tubal ligation and was adamant on her decision.
About a year-and-a-half later, Parker came back to Dr. Mason's office due to unexplained bleeding. He suspected that she was experiencing medical complications from an ectopic pregnancy due to the tubal ligation potentially failing. During an "exploratory" surgery to "resolve the ectopic pregnancy," they also discovered a cyst on her right ovary, an ectopic pregnancy and scarring from endometriosis.
As a result of what doctors saw during surgery, "the decision was made to do a hysterectomy and removal of both tubes and the right ovary," per Dr. Mason.
However, in a court of criminal appeals document, Parker's attorneys claimed that Parker didn't give her consent, since she was in surgery. They claimed that doctors asked Wacasey, who gave them his approval for the hysterectomy.
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"[Parker] under anesthesia, Wacasey authorized doctors to perform a hysterectomy," the court docs read. "Doctors removed Appellant's uterus, cervix, and one of her ovaries. When Appellant woke up after the surgery, she 'flew off the handle and asked why [Wacasey] didn't wake her up so she could make that decision.' "
Forensic psychologists and other experts testified that Parker was not suffering from a mental illness
Taylor ParkerCredit: Bi-State Detention Center via AP
During Parker's trial and subsequent sentencing phase, several psychiatrists and psychologists testified about Parker's mental state and any potential underlying mental illnesses she may have had.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Arambula, who did not meet Parker but evaluated the case, testified that Parker was mentally fit when she committed the crime.
"I was looking for some kind of mental deterioration that would account for that, but instead I saw that she stuck to her plan and (there was) no remorse afterwards," Arambula said, per KTAL News.
He continued, "In this case, there is nothing regarding any mental illness and nothing regarding intoxication and Ms. Parker falls in the category of fetal abductors, which are rare but fall into a class of women who don't have a mental illness. The murders are planned. They're premeditated. They have plans for after."
Arambula theorized that Parker could fit the category of "Cluster B" personality disorders from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which "involve impulsive and dramatic behavior" and include people who "often don't realize their thoughts and behaviors are problematic," according to Cleveland Clinic.
Meanwhile, Parker's licensed counselor in jail, Makesha Parrish, LPC, described Parker as polite but a "bit guarded." In one particular incident, Parker became upset when she remained handcuffed and "went completely dark, her eyes went completely dark and her face distorted. And then she sat down, and she was not happy. We didn't meet for very long that day. "
"In my opinion, she's not a typical inmate," Parrish said, while claiming that Parker was a "top dog" in jail and "almost appears to thrive while being incarcerated."
Parker's attorneys called psychiatrist Dr. Edward Gripon to testify about his two meetings with Parker. He said that he didn't think Parker had a mental illness beyond displaying some qualities of mixed personality disorders, according to court docs. When specifically asked if he could diagnose Parker with narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder, he said that she did not fit all the criteria.
However, Dr. Gripon said that Parker could have a "mental condition" that affected her "quality of their life, the stability of their life, their ability to maintain relationships, maintain employment sometime, those sort of things."
Finally, psychologist Dr. Timothy Proctor reiterated the other experts' testimonies that he did not find any evidence of a mental disorder after conducting a series of standardized tests with Parker. Although he didn't diagnose her with a mental illness, Dr. Proctor concluded that Parker "presents with psychopathic traits" — including "pathological lying and manipulativeness."
Homer Hancock sued Parker and Griffin
Simmons-Hancock's husband, Homer, didn't appear in the doc and didn't share how the tragedy affected him.
About one week after Parker was convicted of murdering Simmons-Hancock in October 2022, Homer filed a negligence and wrongful death civil lawsuit against Parker and Griffin. Homer claimed in the suit that Parker killed his daughter due her reckless driving, KTAL News reported in October 2022.
"Defendant Parker then took Baby Hancock, who the jury in Bowie County has determined was still alive and fled the scene in Defendant Griffin's vehicle toward Oklahoma," the lawsuit read. "Defendant Parker was eventually stopped for speeding and driving erratically by a Texas State Trooper who, upon approaching the vehicle, reportedly observed Baby Hancock on Defendant Parker's lap. Baby Hancock was later pronounced dead. The vehicle driven by Defendant Parker at all times during the occurrences above was registered to Defendant Parker's boyfriend, Defendant Griffin."
As of June 2026, the case appears to be ongoing.
Parker searched places where pregnant women might be found and looked up a pregnant woman's license plate before the murder
Taylor ParkerCredit: Netflix
The Netflix doc lays out the ways Parker faked her pregnancy — including purchasing fake pregnancy results, a silicone belly and preparing a nursery.
However, as her September 2020 "due date" approached, Parker seemed to become desperate to come up with an ending to her scheme.
Texas Department of Public Safety Special Agent Dustin Estes testified that — beginning on Sept. 14, 2020 — Parker began researching online where she could find pregnant women, per KTAL News. She specifically narrowed her search to maternity consignment shops and pregnancy clinics around the area, per Estes. At one point, she was searching license plate numbers, one of which belonged to a pregnant woman.
After her due date passed, Parker allegedly attended a teen pregnancy support group. Estes testified that Parker could have been telling the pregnant girls she encountered that she was a midwife in order to get closer to them.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
