Texas woman found guilty of murdering pregnant woman, cutting baby from womb

A Texas woman was found guilty on Monday of capital murder after killing a pregnant woman and cutting the baby from her womb in 2020. 

In October 2020, Taylor Rene Parker, 29, beat Reagan Micelle Simmons-Hancock, 21, in the head multiple times with a hammer. She then proceeded to cut and stab her more than 100 times before removing her unborn child with a scalpel. 

The defendant allegedly faked her pregnancy for more than 10 months. She had researched how to fake a pregnancy and how to deliver babies preterm at 35 weeks, which was around the time when was killed. 

Parker, on the other hand, disguised herself to look pregnant, faked ultrasounds, and even posted about her “pregnancy” on social media. 

Prosecutors claim she lied about being pregnant so her boyfriend would stay with her. She allegedly told him that she would be induced to deliver the day she murdered Simmons-Hancock. 

"In the past two weeks, the evidence has never been more clear," Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards told the jury. "She’s a liar, a manipulator, and now she’s gonna be held accountable for it."

"The pain Reagan must have felt when Taylor started cutting her abdomen, hip to hip … indescribable," Richards said. "When Taylor had the baby and Reagan was still alive, that’s when Taylor started slashing and cutting. She can’t leave her alive. It was no quick death. She just kept cutting her. I guess Reagan would not die fast enough for Taylor to get out of there and get on with her plans."

Parker was arrested after being stopped by state troopers the morning of the murder. The officers found Parker holding a baby in her lap and “the umbilical cord was connected to the infant, which appeared to be coming out of the female’s pants as if she gave birth,” the affidavit said.

The defense team requested that the kidnapping charge be dismissed by claiming that the baby was never alive, a move that would have lowered the capital murder charge to murder if accepted. 

"That's why in opening statements we spent so much time on definitions. You can’t kidnap a person who has not been born alive," attorney Jeff Harrelson said in his closing argument.

Prosecutors, however, claim that medical professionals testified that the baby had a heartbeat when she was born. 

After deliberating for about an hour, a Bowie County jury found Parker guilty. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Parker. A sentencing trial is scheduled for October 12.