The untimely death of Reagan Simmons Hancock has ignited a passionate commitment from her family to ensure her tragic end serves a greater purpose.
In response to Hancock’s 2020 murder, her family is championing legislative reforms aimed at enhancing the safety of expectant mothers. Tragically, Hancock fell victim to a brutal attack by Taylor Parker, a friend who had once captured her wedding moments. Parker attempted a horrifying plan to claim Hancock’s unborn child as her own by forcefully removing the baby, as detailed in court documents.
Featuring in Netflix’s series Maternal Instinct, Parker now awaits the scheduling of her execution on Texas’ death row following her conviction for capital murder.
Reagan Simmons Hancock’s Family, Filmmaker Advocate For Legal Changes
Hancock’s family holds the conviction that the tragedy might have been averted, particularly since some individuals, including Parker’s medical professionals, were aware of her inability to conceive due to a previous hysterectomy.
“There should have been a way that something else could have been done,” expressed her sister Emily Shirey in an interview with People.
Maternal Instinct’s filmmaker Jessica Dimmock also told the news outlet that the current privacy laws in place prevented doctors from revealing what they knew to end the ruse before lives were lost.
“The law really failed this family,” Dimmock said. “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.”
Fetal abductions remain rare, making up just 6 percent of the total number of infant abductions, according to data from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Between 1987 and 2020, there were 21 cases of fetal abductions, or cesarean abductions, reported to the missing person agency.
Still, Dimmrock believes pregnant woman are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of violence.
“Having the law not just be thinking about the unborn or recently born, but also the mother that is carrying that child and what danger she could be in also feels like a huge gap in the law here and a tragically missed moment,” she told the outlet. “It wasn’t just Braxlynn who was in danger here, it was Reagan as well.”
Hancock’s family decided to share her story and participate in the documentary to shine a light on the gaps in current legislation.
“We don’t want this to just be another true-crime movie that all the binge watchers want to go see because they heard about the crime,” Shirey explained to People. “We want people to watch it so they say, ‘Oh, this is why the family is pushing so hard to get laws passed.’”
If they are able to make changes to protect more pregnant mothers, Shirey noted, “Then my sister’s murder will not have been in vain.”
Taylor Parker Faked Pregnancy Before Murder
For months, Parker lied about being pregnant, according to the court records, holding an elaborate gender reveal party, picking out a name for her baby and posing for maternity photos.
Yet, there were some in Parker’s life who knew that she couldn’t possibly be pregnant.
Her OB/GYN Dr. Christopher Mason explained in Maternal Instinct that he was prevented from revealing what he knew about her fertility status because of privacy laws.
“We felt like she had to come up with a baby somehow,” Mason said. “So for the safety of the rest of our patients and our nursery, we did alert the hospital to be on higher alert, what was called Code Pink.”
Stephanie Ott—a friend of Parker’s fiancé Wade Griffin—also tried to sound the alarm after growing suspicious while planning Parker’s gender reveal party. She explained in the documentary that she noticed that the paperwork Parker provided her had a date of 2016, years before the supposed pregnancy.
When Ott called the women’s clinic to try to find out more, the office manager told her that while she couldn’t give out specific patient data, she should “just go with your gut.”
Ott even took it a step further by speaking with Parker’s former friend and mother, who both confirmed that Parker had a hysterectomy years earlier. As Ott explained in the documentary, she shared what she learned with Griffin’s mom and even Griffin himself—but Parker always found a way to refute the claims, often falsely labeling her mother as a liar and a vindictive villain in her life.
Parker’s lies were so convincing that even Hancock herself stood up for Parker as rumors began to spread around town about the pregnancy being fake.
“I can remember it vividly. We were walking out of the doctor’s office and Reagan gets a message on her phone and she’s just like, ugh, and I said, ‘Well, what’s wrong?” Hancock’s mother Jessica Brookes recalled in Maternal Instinct. “She said, ‘Oh, people are giving Taylor a hard time, trying to tell her that she’s not really pregnant and you know, she’s lying.’”
It all led to Hancock’s brutal murder on Oct. 9, 2020. Parker—who was feeling pressure to produce a baby after her supposed due date came and went—brutally attacked Hancock causing more than 100 sharp force injuries and 39 blunt force injuries before cutting the baby from her womb, per court records.
Parker was arrested later that day after she was pulled over in a traffic stop with the baby in her lap. Although she claimed she had just given birth herself, the doctors at the hospital confirmed she hadn’t, according to the documentary.
The baby, who Hancock had planned to name Braxlynn Sage, died at the hospital.