Woman on trial in case of slain mom, stolen unborn baby

A capital murder trial has begun for a Texas woman accused of killing another woman to steal her unborn baby to present as her own.

Taylor Rene Parker has pleaded not guilty to capital murder and kidnapping in the October 2020 deaths of 21-year-old Regan Michelle Simmons-Hancock and the daughter who died after being cut from her mother’s womb.

Authorities say Simmons-Hancock was stabbed and cut more than 100 times and had her skull crushed with a hammer in her New Boston, home before a scalpel was used to remove her unborn baby. Parker is also charged with noncapital murder in connection with the baby’s death.

Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told the Bowie County jury Monday that Parker, 29, acted not because she wanted a baby but to keep from losing her boyfriend.

Crisp said Parker disguised herself to make her look pregnant for nearly 10 months, faked ultrasounds, had a genderreveal party and posted about her fake pregnancy on social media while searching for a possible victim, Crisp said.

“How did we get here?” Crisp asked the jury. “How did it get this far? She is an actress, an actress of the highest order. The lies and fraud go on and on. The layers of fraud are staggering . ... This started months and months ahead of time until it passed the point of no return, and it ended up in homicide.”

Leaving the victim’s 3-year-old daughter alone with her dying mother, Parker drove with the baby in her lap until a state trooper stopped her car and sent the child to a hospital in nearby Idabel, Okla., authorities say. The child later died.

Witnesses said Parker, who could not conceive after a hysterectomy, had offered $100,000 for a surrogate mother and told her boyfriend that she would have an induced delivery the day of the killing.

Defense attorney Jeff Harrelson asked the six male and six female jurors not to fall prey to their emotions and to keep an open mind.

“It’s a complicated case, factually and emotionally,” he said. “The law is the lens and filter you must view these facts through. Sometimes it’s not black and white but a shade of gray.“

Parker could get the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder. Attorneys estimated they would present at least two weeks of testimony.

New Boston, which is near the Arkansas border, is about 20 miles west of Texarkana.