:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Taylor-Parker-mugshot-061126-1-e92126d0a55d4f5295e95b236b99a90a.jpg "4 chilling details about the Taylor Parker case missing from Maternal Instinct")
Netflix's new true crime documentary is missing several details about the devastating murder of Reagan SimmonsHancock. 4 chilling details about the Taylor Parker case missing from Maternal Instinct Netflix's new true crime documentary is missing several details about the devastating murder of Reagan SimmonsHancock. By Mekishana Pierre :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/MekishanaPierreauthorphotoed08906b8105488ca1e991de8ac00dec.jpg) Mekishana Pierre Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at . She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.
Netflix's new true crime documentary is missing several details about the devastating murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock.
4 chilling details about the Taylor Parker case missing from Maternal Instinct
Netflix's new true crime documentary is missing several details about the devastating murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock.
By Mekishana Pierre
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Mekishana-Pierre-author-photo-ed08906b8105488ca1e991de8ac00dec.jpg)
Mekishana Pierre
Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.
EW's editorial guidelines
June 24, 2026 6:31 p.m. ET
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Taylor Parker's mugshot, courtesy of the Idabel Police Department. Credit:
Idabel Police Department
- Netflix's *Maternal Instinct* explores the horrific 2020 murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock and the kidnapping of her unborn baby by Taylor Parker.
- Parker is currently awaiting a date of execution on death row.
- The documentary leaves out several key details, including Parker's chilling search history and the debate over her mental state.
Netflix's *Maternal Instinct* brought the horrific 2020 murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock and the kidnapping of her unborn baby by Taylor Parker back into the spotlight, revealing the dark web of lies surrounding Parker and the scars borne by those forced to live with the tragedy.
Jessica Dimmock’s documentary, now streaming on Netflix, explores the devastating case through a patchwork of interviews, police bodycam footage, and archival photos. It details how Parker faked a pregnancy in an effort to keep her boyfriend, Wade Griffin, around and dreamed of settling down with her new family on a sprawling property purchased with a vast (and mysterious) inheritance. But when Parker couldn't sustain her lies anymore, she murdered Simmons-Hancock and tried to take her friend's unborn baby and pass it off as her own.
Parker was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death in November 2022. As of June 2026, she remains on death row, awaiting a date of execution.
While the documentary explores the intricate web of lies spun by Parker, it leaves out some crucial information. Below are four details not covered in *Maternal Instinct*.
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Taylor Parker was married twice before she began dating Wade Griffin
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Wade Griffin and Taylor Parker.
Courtesy of Netflix
Although *Maternal Instinct* explains that Parker is already a mother of two, it doesn't delve too deeply into her previous marriages or relationship with her kids.
According to court documents reviewed by **, Parker welcomed her first child, daughter Emersyn, with her ex, Donald Whiteside Jr., when she was 17 years old. Whiteside Jr. wasn't involved in raising their daughter, according to Shonna Prior, Parker's mom.
Her second child, son Trey, was born when Parker was 21 years old. The child's father was her first husband, Tommy Wacasey. Parker and Wacasey separated in 2017 and finalized their divorce in March 2018, Wacasey's divorce attorney testified in court, according to KTAL News.
The outlet reported that, as stated in the documentary, Parker didn't have custody of Trey because she had not fought for it when she and Wacasey divorced. The judge granted joint custody with Wacasey as the primary parent, but Parker was ordered to pay $225 per month in child support. According to documents shown in court, Parker owed $8,469.08 in back child support and penalties as of January 2021.
Child support payments are suspended when the person ordered to pay is incarcerated, but the individual still owes any unpaid child support and accrued penalties.
Parker's second marriage to Hunter Parker came 11 days after the finalization of her divorce from Wacasey. The two separated shortly after, getting divorced in the summer of 2019, and Parker moved on with Wade Griffin in August of that same year.
Hunter testified during Parker's trial, claiming that she wanted to have a baby with him but couldn't become pregnant because of a hysterectomy she had undergone. Hunter claimed that she only told him about the hysterectomy after they were married. He also alleged that Parker told him she suffered from several medical ailments and pretended to be sick in order to encourage him to stay married to her. In addition to the alleged medical issues, Hunter claimed that Parker also used an alias to try to convince him that she was receiving a large inheritance.
Two of Parker's former friends reiterated Hunter's claims in their testimonies, claiming that Parker asked them to be a surrogate for her and offered both of them six figures if they would say yes, per court documents.
Hunter said he learned through social media that Parker was claiming to be pregnant and reached out to Griffin's brother to tell him that Parker had had a hysterectomy, but he never directly spoke with Griffin, according to KTAL.
Experts testified that Taylor Parker was not suffering from a mental illness
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Taylor Parker, as seen in 'Maternal Instinct'.
The question of Parker's mental stability looms large over *Maternal Instinct*. However, several psychiatrists and psychologists testified about Parker's mental state and any potential underlying mental illnesses during both her trial and the subsequent sentencing phase.
Psychiatrist Dr. Edward Gripon — who was called to testify about his two meetings with Parker by her attorneys — said that he didn't think Parker was suffering from severe mental illness, according to court documents. When specifically asked if he could diagnose Parker with narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, or borderline personality disorder, Gripon said she did not meet the full diagnostic criteria for those disorders.
However, Dr. Gripon said that Parker could have a "mental condition" that affected her "quality of their life, the stability of their life, their ability to maintain relationships, maintain employment sometime, those sort of things."
Parker's licensed counselor in prison, Makesha Parrish, described Parker as polite but a "bit guarded." She claimed that Parker was a "top dog" in jail and appeared "to thrive while being incarcerated."
Parrish described one incident in which Parker became upset when she remained handcuffed and "went completely dark, her eyes went completely dark and her face distorted. And then she sat down, and she was not happy. We didn't meet for very long that day."
"In my opinion, she's not a typical inmate," Parrish declared, adding that Parker never expressed remorse for her crime.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Arambula, who evaluated the case without meeting Parker, testified that Parker was mentally fit when she committed the crime.
"I was looking for some kind of mental deterioration that would account for that, but instead I saw that she stuck to her plan and [there was] no remorse afterwards," Arambula said, per KTAL News. "In this case, there is nothing regarding any mental illness and nothing regarding intoxication and Ms. Parker falls in the category of fetal abductors, which are rare but fall into a class of women who don't have a mental illness. The murders are planned. They're premeditated. They have plans for after."
'Maternal Instinct' director reveals why perpetrator of 2020 crime wasn't interviewed for documentary
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6 shocking details about the Mackenzie Shirilla case missing from 'The Crash'
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He reasoned that Parker fit the profile of someone with what are known as "Cluster B" personality disorders, as defined in the *Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders* (DSM-5). The manual is the standard reference used by clinicians and researchers to define and classify mental disorders.
Cluster B personality disorders "involve impulsive and dramatic behavior" and include people who "often don't realize their thoughts and behaviors are problematic," according to Cleveland Clinic.
"It's important to remember that people typically have empathy for other individuals and it's also important to remember that crimes occur in the heat of the moment," Dr. Arambula said. "Things happen when people make bad decisions, and it really does adversely affect them. They try to escape, but there's a humanity that remains within them that knows the severity of taking a life."
He continued, noting how Parker's reaction was different from that response. "That's different than somebody that takes a life, and it doesn't bother them. That's a lack of empathy or remorse... there's a cold callousness," he added. "Despite all the blood and knife wounds and blunt force injuries... It was evident to me that Taylor Parker kept her plans to take that baby even though there was a child in the house."
Taylor Parker allegedly searched for local pregnant women before the murder
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Reagan Simmons-Hancock.
Reagan Hancock/Instagram
Texas Department of Public Safety Special Agent Dustin Estes testified that Parker's search history included searches related to finding pregnant women on Sept. 14, 2020, according to KTAL News. He said that she specifically searched for maternity consignment shops and pregnancy clinics around the area. She even searched license plate numbers, one of which belonged to a pregnant woman.
When her due date passed, Parker allegedly began attending a teen pregnancy support group. Estes testified that search data showed Parker had researched what the average weight of a fetus would be at 29 weeks, midwifery certification information, and private adoptions. Estes said he believed Parker was attempting to get near pregnant women by posing as a midwife.
Parker then turned to Reagan Simmons-Hancock, whose wedding she had photographed as part of a side business she'd started.
On Oct. 9, 2020, Parker drove to Reagan's home and killed her before removing the unborn baby from her womb. The baby did not survive.
Taylor Parker claimed her hysterectomy was performed without her consent
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Taylor Parker, as seen in 'Maternal Instinct'.
Although the documentary repeatedly notes that Parker could not become pregnant because of a hysterectomy, it does not explore her allegations that the procedure was performed without her consent.
In a Court of Criminal Appeals filing, Parker's attorneys claimed that she did not consent to OB/GYN Dr. Christopher Mason — Parker's physician in Mount Pleasant, Texas — performing the hysterectomy, as well as the removal of both fallopian tubes and her right ovary.
As Mason recounts in the documentary, Parker came to his office in 2015 due to unexplained bleeding after the birth of her second child. He recalls suspecting that a failed tubal ligation had resulted in an ectopic pregnancy. During an exploratory surgery to address the issue, doctors also discovered a cyst on her right ovary and scarring caused by endometriosis.
As a result, "the decision was made to do a hysterectomy and removal of both tubes and the right ovary," Mason claimed.
Parker's attorneys argued that because she was already in surgery, she could not provide consent. They further claimed that doctors instead sought approval from Wacasey, who authorized the procedure.
"[With Parker] under anesthesia, Wacasey authorized doctors to perform a hysterectomy," the court documents state. "Doctors removed Appellant's uterus, cervix, and one of her ovaries. When [Parker] woke up after the surgery, she 'flew off the handle and asked why [Wacasey] didn't wake her up so she could make that decision.'"
Where can I watch Maternal Instinct?
*Maternal Instinct* is available to stream now on Netflix.
- Documentary Movies
Source: "EW Documentary"
Source: Documentary
Published: June 24, 2026 at 06:38PM on Source: PRIME TIME
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