She Faked a Baby Bump for Months, Later Killed the Mom-to-Be for Unborn Baby

A terrifying case occured in Texas in 2020, where a woman who faked her pregnancy for months has now been sentenced to death after killing a young expectant mother. She then tried to claim the unborn child as hers, investigators reported.

Taylor Rene Parker, 27 at the time of the crime, was convicted of capital murder in October 2022 for the killing of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons Hancock.

Prosecutors said Parker attacked the victim to support a lie she had built for nearly a year. Her appeal was denied in 2025.

The crime came to light after a traffic stop in October 2020. The accused was pulled over near De Kalb, Texas, for speeding and driving erratically. She told a state trooper she had just given birth on the roadside, and said that the baby was unconscious and not breathing.

Both were rushed to a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, where the baby girl was declared dead, as reported by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in a 2020 statement. However, the staff at McCurtin Hospital grew suspicious of Parker when she refused to be examined.

According to People magazine, investigators then uncovered that the baby was not Parker’s. After searching, they learned that it belonged to Simmons Hancock, who had been attacked earlier that day.

Police said Simmons Hancock was 7.5 months pregnant when she was stabbed more than 100 times. Her skull was crushed with a hammer. Prosecutors said Parker used a scalpel to remove the child.

After the attack, Simmons Hancock’s 3-year-old daughter was left alone by Parker while her mother lay dying.

Detectives later learned that the two women knew each other. Simmons Hancock had hired Parker as her wedding photographer. Their contract was then extended after Hancock's pregnancy was announced.

Parker, on the other hand, had lied about being pregnant for nearly 10 months to stop her boyfriend from leaving her. In court, Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp called Parker “an actress of the highest order.”

Prosecutors said that Parker wore a pillow under her clothes to look pregnant. She faked ultrasound images, and even had a gender-reveal party and shared posts online.

Prosecutors also said Parker tried to stage a birth scene. They claimed that she "stuffed Reagan's placenta down her pants to make it look like she had given birth on the side of the road.”

Simmons Hancock’s mother, Jessica Brookes, gave emotional testimony, claiming that she was surprised the two women were even in contact.

Parker is currently on death row.