Reagan Simmons-Hancock’s name has re-entered the national conversation nearly six years after her death, following the release of Netflix’s June 2026 documentary Maternal Instinct. The 21-year-old Texas mother was 35 weeks pregnant with her second daughter, Braxlynn Sage, when she was killed on October 9, 2020, by her friend Taylor Parker in one of the most disturbing crimes in recent Texas history.
Simmons-Hancock’s story has been overshadowed at times by the shocking details of what Parker did — strangling and stabbing her before performing an unauthorized C-section to remove her unborn child and pass the baby off as her own. But her mother and sister have been working to reclaim her memory, sharing publicly who Reagan was and how her loved ones have carried the weight of her loss.
Here is everything to know about Reagan Simmons-Hancock, her family and the killer who took her life.
Reagan Simmons-Hancock Was a Young Wife and Mother in East Texas
Simmons-Hancock was married to Homer Hancock and was already raising a young daughter, Kynlee, when she became pregnant with her second child in 2020. She met Parker in 2019 when Parker worked as her wedding photographer.
The two women grew close during their friendship. When Parker began telling those around her that she was pregnant — a claim that was not true, since Parker had previously undergone a hysterectomy and could not carry a child — the timing of her fictitious pregnancy roughly matched Simmons-Hancock’s real one.
On October 9, 2020, the two friends planned a girls’ day together and Parker committed the unthinkable crime.
Reagan Simmons-Hancock Was Killed at Her Home on October 9, 2020
At Simmons-Hancock’s home in New Boston, Texas, Parker attacked her.
Simmons-Hancock was strangled and stabbed, then Parker performed a C-section on her body to remove Braxlynn Sage. Parker then fled the scene with the newborn.
While driving erratically, Parker called 911 from a Texas highway and told dispatchers she had just delivered a baby on the side of the road and that the child was not breathing. State troopers found her attempting CPR on the infant. Parker told them she had been headed to McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, to meet her boyfriend, Wade Griffin.
Doctors at the hospital quickly determined that Parker had not given birth. They also learned about her prior hysterectomy. Investigators connected her to Simmons-Hancock’s home, where the young mother’s body was discovered.
Braxlynn Sage did not survive.
Reagan Simmons-Hancock’s Mother Found Her at the Scene
Jessica Brookes was the one who found her daughter after the killing. Speaking to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, Brookes recalled the moment she arrived at the home and spotted a bloody fingerprint on the door.
“I knew I had to preserve the crime scene,” she said, explaining that she used her shirt rather than touching the blood directly. “There was no question that Reagan was no longer with us.”
Brookes and Simmons-Hancock’s sister, Emily Shirley, have spoken publicly about their belief that Parker’s actions were calculated rather than the result of mental illness. Both have pushed back on the framing of Parker as unstable.
“It’s hard to not say evil, to be honest,” Brookes said of Parker. “I believe that she is just evil because it’s so hard to imagine what she did.”
Shirley added that she does not accept the “crazy” label being applied to Parker. “No crazy person could have gotten this all strategically planned out like she did,” she said.
Brookes elaborated on why she rejects the framing. “There’s such a fine line that we use the word crazy so often that it’s just become that’s what a person is if they don’t think the same way a normal person would think,” she said. “But I believe that she is just evil.”
Taylor Parker Blamed Reagan Simmons-Hancock in an Interrogation Video
Days after the killing, Parker sat down with detectives and gave a version of events that placed responsibility on the woman she killed. In interrogation footage obtained by TMZ, Parker claimed the two women got into a physical fight.
Parker said Simmons-Hancock suffered multiple injuries during the altercation, including stab wounds, but Parker only remembered hitting her in the head with a mason jar. She then claimed it was Simmons-Hancock’s idea for Parker to cut out her unborn child because Simmons-Hancock knew she was dying.
According to Parker, she told Simmons-Hancock she did not know how to remove the baby. Simmons-Hancock allegedly responded, “Get her out of me!”
Parker said she cut about six inches on Simmons-Hancock’s midsection before the victim allegedly took the scalpel from her and cut further. Parker claimed they then saw “a sack” coming out of Simmons-Hancock’s stomach.
Parker also alleged that Kynlee, who was 3 years old at the time, was in the home during the attack and that Simmons-Hancock told Parker to move the toddler out of the hallway. Parker broke down in tears during the interview and said she did not want to continue.
In bodycam footage from the hospital, Parker initially denied involvement but later admitted to killing Simmons-Hancock.
Taylor Parker Is Currently on Death Row
Parker was convicted of capital murder and kidnapping in October 2022 and sentenced to death one month later, in November 2022. She is currently the youngest woman on death row in Texas at age 33 and is held at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed her conviction and sentence in 2025, and in May 2026 the Supreme Court declined to review her case. No execution date has been scheduled.
In February 2025, Parker spoke with The New Yorker and said her acceptance of what she had done came only when she saw autopsy photos. “I told myself, ‘You didn’t do what they said. It’s lies,’” she said. “My realization came when I had to face the autopsy photos.”
Netflix’s ‘Maternal Instinct’ Renewed Attention on Reagan Simmons-Hancock’s Story
The June 2026 release of Maternal Instinct brought the case back into the public eye. Director Jessica Dimmock told Netflix’s Tudum that she chose not to focus on Parker’s mental health because Parker “did not attempt an insanity defense” and because, for Simmons-Hancock’s family, that distinction mattered.
“It doesn’t matter what was wrong with her,” Dimmock said. “The jury found her guilty and sentenced her to death.”
One week after the documentary premiered, McCurtain Memorial Hospital issued a statement asking viewers not to visit the site, calling the events “not a story of entertainment or a destination for tourism” but “a story of devastating loss.”
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
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