A WOMAN who killed her pregnant friend and stole her unborn baby from her womb was heard complaining about her treatment behind bars while awaiting trial in a series of jail calls.
The case of Taylor Parker has left Netflix viewers horrified after the murder was the focus of the documentary, Maternal Instinct.
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Taylor Rene Parker was 27 when she was first charged in the murder case in 2020 Credit: IPD
Reagan Simmons-Hancock was 34 weeks pregnant when she was murdered in her own home in New Boston, Texas Credit: Facebook
Taylor Parker is seen in a hospital bed after pretending to give birth to the baby girl Credit: Bowie County District
Reagan’s baby scans were seen on her fridge in chilling crime scene pictures Credit: Bowie County
Parker savagely attacked 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock with a hammer before stabbing her more than 100 times.
She then used a scalpel to perform a C-section and fled with the baby girl, Braxlynn Sage.
Parker pretended she had given birth at the side of the road before being rushed to a hospital.
The baby tragically died despite desperate medical efforts, and Parker was arrested and handcuffed after being interrogated.
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She was later found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death.
While the documentary featured heartbreaking interviews with Reagan’s family and Parker’s ex-boyfriend, Wade Griffin, it revealed little about how the trial played out or what happened behind the scenes.
Parker was arrested on October 9, 2020, and held in Bowie County Jail, where she regularly phoned her mother, Shona Prior.
The pair had a rocky relationship, but Prior supported Parker financially after her arrest and is believed to remain in contact with her.
The U.S. Jattvibe has obtained a selection of jail calls from 2021 and 2022 that prosecutors later used to argue Parker’s apparent lack of remorse and narcissistic tendencies.
In one call, she is heard talking about not being able to wear makeup during court proceedings.
Discussing a member of her legal team, her mom says, “So did she say anything to you about makeup?
“Did you say anything to her about makeup? Because she doesn’t think that makeup is going to be an option for you.”
Parker, now 33, says someone in her team was “taking care of it.”
Her mom, backing her, tells her, “So the thing about it is if they try to discriminate you as a person, that will work in your favor in the long run because they’re not giving you a fair chance.
“You know, they’re wanting you to look like a homeless criminal.
“They’re not wanting you to look like a human because that would be beneficial to you and detrimental to them.”
Parker agrees and goes on to complain about the proceedings.
In one call, Parker becomes emotional while talking about her two children, but her mother offers little sympathy.
Taylor Parker’s mom, Shona Prior, took to the stand during her murder trial in 2022
Taylor Parker with her ex-boyfriend Wade Griffin who believed she was pregnant Credit: Netflix
The grandmother is now Parker’s daughter’s full-time guardian, while her son is in the care of her ex-husband, the boy’s biological dad.
Parker reveals that she was upset her ex-husband won’t let her speak to her son and that she has to fight to get him on the phone.
“Mom, that really upsets me,” she says, through tears.
Prior fires back, “I’m sure it does, but you know what? I hate to say this, but if you’d have been thinking about the children that you had on earth, you might not be in the situation you’re in.
“But, I mean, that’s what’s done is done. And you have to go forward and deal with the consequences as best you can.
“You’re not the only one dealing with them. We’re all dealing with them.”
In one of the most shocking calls between the mother and daughter, Parker also dismisses the murder as “just one horrible thing.”
She is heard complaining about the charges she is facing and does not appear to express any guilt over murdering her close friend.
When her mother directly asks whether something is psychologically wrong with her, Parker immediately changes the subject.
“Mom, they would charge me with sh****ng on a fly right now if they could, literally, that’s what it comes down to,” Parker said in the call.
“I mean, there’s another girl that’s here, and they literally just threw some bogus bulls**t on her just because they could, just because it makes them look better.
“I mean, it’s like [you do] one horrible thing, they’ll do anything and whatever.
“I mean, that’s just what it comes down to. They don’t give a sh**.”
Her mom, realizing how she’s trivializing the murder of her close friend, is not impressed with the comment.
“Well, Taylor, you know, I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think you’re thinking about that like you should be thinking about that,” she tells her daughter.
“I mean, it’s not just you do one horrible thing and they try to throw the book at you.”
She then suggests, “When you see your attorney, you need to find out when they’re going to be able to do a psychiatric evaluation because something is not right here.”
Parker is silent on the line and then shifts the topic of conversation, telling her mom, “Well, I found out yesterday that I’m actually due for a bond reduction because I’ve been here 90 days.”
During her pretrial detention, prosecutors introduced voluminous records of her communications — including the calls — to demonstrate her state of mind, lack of remorse, and a pattern of manipulative behavior.
She is also heard complaining about the lights in her cell being kept on 24 hours a day.
But this time her mother defends her, and even suggests that she keep her eyes open for an extended period to intentionally trigger a migraine and receive different treatment.
Her mom says, “I don’t understand. You have already been diagnosed with hemiplegic migraines, all right?
“If those f***ing lights trigger a migraine episode, the damn jail is going to have more problems than they have right now with you.
“I mean, they cannot facilitate you. And maybe, just maybe, you should hold your eyes open just as long as you can so it will trigger another episode.
“But I’m just saying it’s a matter of time before that comes back. And they can’t… they’re not equipped to facilitate an individual in that kind of condition, the condition that you used to be in.”
Parker responds, “Trust me, I know,” and later speaks about how she is finding it difficult to sleep.
“I talked to the psychiatrist yesterday and she’s getting me something to help me sleep and with the night terrors and for my depression.
“She said I probably talk to her every three weeks.”
In another call, the reality of what she’s done finally appears to start sinking in — but only because her mother is struggling to balance court responsibilities with caring for Parker’s young daughter.
Parker starts crying and tells her mom, “I’m sorry.”
Her mom hits back, “I know you did not think about the consequences of your actions. I know that.”
She then tells her she doesn’t want to talk about the murder, knowing they are being recorded.
In other calls, Parker is heard crying again and saying she is working with her lawyer to get “major leverage for protection, especially with everything that’s going on right now.”
She claims, “I mean, it’s a political thing. Somebody of higher power talks to the big person, and then all the minions have to obey it.”
She further alleges in the calls that she was strip-searched and her cell was “ransacked” over an unknown rumor on Facebook.
“That was a bogus lie just for them to tear up my stuff, and there should be repercussions for it,” she tells her mom.
Prior, who did not appear in the Netflix documentary, took to the stand during her trial and said she was used to her daughter telling lies.
She testified that she told Wade’s family that Parker had undergone a hysterectomy and wasn’t really pregnant but they did nothing.
Prior said she didn’t feel the need to take any action as she’d already let people know the truth.
Wade, who was interviewed in the film, said Parker would make excuses and he never knew who to believe between her and his own mom.
The defense tried to pass some of the jail calls off as evidence of Parker trying to maintain family ties, noting that her mother would only let her speak to her daughter if she kept the conversations positive.
However, the prosecution used the calls to devastating effect.
They argued to the jury that while a normal person would be consumed by grief, guilt, or horror over murdering a friend and taking an unborn baby, Parker’s jail calls showed she was only consumed by self-pity, superficial complaints about jail life, and anger that she was being held accountable.
Following her death sentence, Parker was moved to the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas, where she remains on death row.
Her days are now largely spent in isolation, with inmates typically confined to their cells for roughly 22 hours a day.
Like all death row prisoners in Texas, Parker faces a lengthy legal process that includes multiple automatic appeals and post-conviction reviews — proceedings that can take years, and in many cases decades, before an execution date is scheduled.
For more on Taylor Parker and Maternal Instinct, visit our YouTube channel.
