A Texas woman convicted of murdering a pregnant woman and ripping out her unborn baby was sentenced to death Wednesday.
A jury of six men and six women in Bowie County, about 150 miles east of Dallas, deliberated for less than two hours before handing down the fatal sentence for 29-year-old Taylor Rene Parker, TXK Today reported.
Parker was convicted of capital murder on Oct. 3 in the ghastly killing of Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock, 21, and her infant daughter in New Boston in Oct. 2020.
Parker Used Pregnancy Disguises, Faked Ultrasounds, Threw Gender Reveal Party
In the 10 months leading up to the murder, Parker had faked her own pregnancy in an elaborate scheme to prevent her boyfriend from leaving her, prosecutors said. She wore pregnancy disguises, faked ultrasounds, posted about her pregnancy online and even threw a gender reveal party for the fake baby.
Parker, who could not conceive after a hysterectomy, told her boyfriend she would be induced to deliver the baby on the day of the murder. Prosecutors said she intensively researched how to fake a pregnancy and watched numerous videos on delivering babies preterm at 35 weeks, which is how far along Simmons-Hancock was when she was killed.
Parker Told Cop She Had Gave Birth After Killing Simmons-Hancock
On the morning of Oct. 9, 2020, Parker crushed Simmons-Hancock's skull with a hammer and stabbed her more than 100 times in her home before removing her baby from her womb with a scalpel.
Leaving the victim's 3-year-old daughter alone with her dying mother, Parker then drove with the baby in her lap when a state trooper stopped the car for speeding. She told the trooper she had just given birth and the child was unresponsive.
The trooper tried to perform CPR but could not revive the baby and called for an ambulance. She was taken to McCurtain Memorial, where "a doctor ... knew very quickly that she had not given birth." The child, a baby girl, later died.
After her sentencing, Parker was slated to be moved to the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas, where the state houses its female death row inmates, court officials told TXK Today. She is entitled to appeal her sentence.
