Credit: Netflix & Idabel Police Department
Why Woman Who Killed Her Pregnant Friend And Abducted Her Baby Denied Final Death Row Meal
The woman who killed her pregnant friend and abducted her baby has been denied her final death row meal.
Taylor Parker is one of the most infamous women currently sitting on death row in Texas.
Her case has returned to public attention following the release of Netflix’s true-crime documentary Maternal Instinct, which examines the deception, violence, and devastating loss behind one of the most disturbing crimes in recent American history.
Parker was convicted in 2022 for the murder of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, a pregnant mother from New Boston, Texas.
The crime shocked even seasoned investigators because of the brutality involved and the elaborate lies Parker told before carrying it out.
Now, as renewed attention turns to her life on death row, many people have discovered that Parker will not be allowed to choose a final meal before her execution.
Taylor Parker built a web of lies
Before the murder, Parker had convinced people around her that she was pregnant.
According to Netflix Tudum, Parker told boyfriend Wade Griffin she was expecting after the pair began building a life together in rural East Texas. She presented herself as wealthy, claimed she was waiting on a major inheritance, and made plans for an extravagant future.
But behind the scenes, her pregnancy was impossible.
Parker had previously undergone a hysterectomy, meaning she could not carry a child.
Despite this, she wore fake pregnancy bellies, collected baby items, shared supposed updates, and allegedly searched online for pregnancy-related information.
Court evidence later included searches such as ‘order cheap pregnancy silicone belly,’ ‘newborn adoptions,’ ‘how to find a birth mother,’ and ‘video of c-section,’ according to the Netflix summary of the case.
Reagan Simmons-Hancock trusted her
Reagan Simmons-Hancock was 35 weeks pregnant when she was killed, per the Guardian.
She had previously met Parker when Parker photographed her wedding, and the two later became friendly.
According to the documentary summary, Reagan was remembered by loved ones as warm, inclusive, and kind.
On October 9, 2020, Parker went to Reagan’s home.
Reagan’s mother later found a horrifying scene inside the house after she became worried that her daughter was not answering her phone.
Reagan’s three-year-old daughter was found unharmed in a bedroom.
Investigators later said Reagan had suffered 15 stab wounds and 98 incised wounds.
Her unborn baby, later named Braxlynn Sage Hancock, had been cut from her body.
Parker claimed the baby was hers
After leaving Reagan’s home, Parker called 911 from the highway and claimed she had just given birth.
When state troopers arrived, they found her performing CPR on the newborn.
She told authorities she had delivered the baby on the roadside and was heading to a hospital in Oklahoma.
But at the hospital, doctors found no evidence Parker had recently given birth.
Braxlynn was pronounced dead.
Parker was soon arrested.
According to the Guardian, prosecutors argued that Parker had planned the killing for months in order to maintain her fake pregnancy and keep her relationship intact.
She was sentenced to death
Parker’s defense did not argue that she had not killed Reagan.
Instead, her lawyers sought to prevent her from receiving the death penalty.
The capital murder charge depended partly on the death of Braxlynn and the allegation that Parker kidnapped the baby.
Parker’s appellate lawyers later argued that the baby may not have been alive when removed from Reagan’s womb, meaning she could not legally have been kidnapped.
However, Texas courts upheld the conviction and sentence.
In May 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Parker’s case, leaving her death sentence in place. No execution date has been set.
Parker is currently held at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
She is one of only a small number of women on death row in the state.
Netflix documentary renewed attention
The case has gained renewed international attention because of Maternal Instinct, which premiered on Netflix on June 12, 2026.
The documentary explores Parker’s lies, Reagan’s murder, and the impact on the families involved.
Netflix describes the film as disturbing and gut-wrenching, warning viewers that it contains graphic details about violence against a pregnant woman and her unborn child.
The documentary also examines how Parker allegedly fooled friends, relatives, and her partner for months.
People who knew her described a pattern of deception that predated the fake pregnancy, including claims of serious illnesses and money that did not exist.
Life on death row
Reports about Parker’s current life in prison describe a highly restricted existence, per MSN.
She is housed in a small cell and spends most of each day alone.
Women on Texas death row are not held at the Huntsville Unit, where executions take place, but at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit.
Meals are delivered to inmates rather than eaten communally.
According to recent reports, Parker receives the same standard prison food as other inmates and can buy approved commissary items if she has money in her account.
But when her execution date eventually arrives, one long-standing death row tradition will not be available to her.
Why Parker will not get a final meal
For decades, Texas death row inmates were allowed to request a special final meal before execution.
That changed in 2011 because of another condemned prisoner, Lawrence Russell Brewer.
Brewer was executed for his role in the 1998 racist murder of James Byrd Jr., a Black man who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas.
Before his execution, Brewer requested an enormous final meal.
Reports say it included chicken-fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, fajitas, barbecue, pizza, ice cream, peanut butter fudge, and root beer.
Prison staff prepared the meal.
But Brewer refused to eat any of it.
The incident prompted Texas state senator John Whitmire to call for the immediate end of special final meal requests, calling the practice an “extremely inappropriate” privilege.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice ended the tradition shortly afterward.
That means Parker, like all condemned inmates in Texas, will not be allowed to choose a special final meal.
Instead, if her execution goes ahead, she will receive the same standard prison meal served to other inmates that day.
Related Article: Death Row Inmate Suffered ‘Excruciating’ Death After Making Last Meal ‘Mistake’
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