The unborn child was ripped from the victim’s womb after a 29-year-old Texas woman killed her pregnant companion and sentenced her to death.
According to court documents analysed by Law&Crime, a Bowie County jury on Wednesday condemned Taylor Rene Parker to death for the 2020 murders of Reagan Simmons-Hancock and unborn Braxlynn Sage Hancock.
Last month, the same jury of six men and six women found Parker, also known as Taylor Morton and Taylor Waycasey, guilty of capital murder by terror threat or other crime after deliberating for less than an hour. After being found guilty, she might have received a death sentence or a life term with no chance of release.
Before Parker’s punishment was formally imposed by Texas District Court Judge John Tidwell, the jury reached judgments on two special issue issues, according to a Texarkana Gazette story. First, the jury allegedly concluded that Parker was likely to carry out further violent crimes that endangered society. Additionally, they concluded that Parker’s background did not contain any “significant mitigating circumstances” that would warrant a life sentence in prison rather than the death penalty.
On Wednesday, several members of Reagan’s family read victim impact statements.
Emily Simmons, Reagan’s sister, told the Texarkana Gazette that she will have to walk down the aisle at her upcoming wedding holding a picture of Reagan because her sister won’t be there to serve as her maid of honor.
My only sibling by blood. You must comprehend what you took away from my family and me. Stop honouring her birthday now. Simmons allegedly added, “I was just 19 when I got the call my sister was gone. She’s never going to be my maid of honour. I have to visit a graveyard and view a gravestone if I want to see my sister. Never again will I get a text or call from her.
According to reports, Reagan’s mother, Jessica Brooks, addressed Parker directly and referred to her as an “evil piece of flesh demon.
One of the very few individuals on this planet who actually cared about you was her. Who now is concerned about you? Brooks allegedly enquired. “When you tore her open and tore her baby from her stomach, my baby was alive and still fighting for her babies.”
During her closing argument, First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp gave a brief recap of the horrific murder scene.
There is no doubt that Reagan was tortured, and the circumstances of his death were terrible. However, one mother departed the world by dying while standing up for her kid. A woman who lost her life in battle,” she allegedly stated. “Braxlynn spent both her life and her final moments in the embrace of the murderer. If not for this case, in which one would you impose [the death penalty]? Mercy is reserved for those who are aware of their wrongdoing and accept it.
The details of Reagan’s murder are extremely shocking and upsetting.
The inquiry started after Hancock’s mother went to her daughter’s house on October 9, 2020, and discovered her dead, according to a probable cause document seen by Law&Crime. The Texas Rangers were called by the local police to assist with the investigation after the mother dialled 911 at 10:18 a.m.
A white female was found face down on the floor in the living room when police arrived at the property, according to the report. There was also what seemed to be blood all over the place. There was a lot of what seemed to be blood spread around the house on the furniture, walls, appliances, and other stuff.
The report adds, “Officers discovered [Hancock] was around 34 weeks pregnant and asked EMS staff to attend to the site and check on the condition of the baby.” “Life Net EMS turned [Hancock’s] corpse over in the body camera footage from the police, which revealed a pretty significant gash across [Hancock’s] abdomen region. The EMS workers discovered that [Hancock] was no longer carrying a baby in her abdomen.
Less than an hour before the 911 call, according to the authorities, detectives unintentionally ran across the infant and the alleged murderer.
On the day of the death, a Texas state trooper stopped a car near DeKalb, Texas, at around 9:37 a.m.
According to court filings, “Taylor Parker was the driver and was cradling a recently born newborn in her lap.” “The newborn looked to be coming out of the female’s trousers with the umbilical chord attached, as if she had given birth to the kid.
While Parker was giving the newborn CPR, LifeNet EMS arrived on the scene and took Parker and the child to a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, according to the affidavit. Parker claimed the kid was hers, but the local police chief later discovered that Parker had not actually given birth to the child from employees at the McCurtain Memorial Hospital.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Parker ripped out Hancock’s uterus after slicing her from hip to hip with a knife. Hancock fought with her murderer while she was about 34 weeks pregnant. Authorities characterised her hands as having defensive wounds. One of her fingers was dislocated, and another was on the verge of being amputated, among other wounds.
At least 39 of the over 100 stab wounds, which the investigators found, were on her skull. She had five fractures in her skull, most likely caused by blows from a hammer’s claw and blunt end. According to authorities, she was also probably struck with a four-pound jar filled with the pink and blue sand from her wedding. Due to the scalpel’s position in the victim’s neck, authorities at first failed to see it.
According to the prosecution, Parker’s complex plan to abduct Reagan’s child was part of an effort to maintain her boyfriend after she lied to him about being pregnant.
You have been sentenced to death under Texas law after being found guilty of capital murder. At the conclusion of the trial, Judge Tidwell formally sentenced Parker to death. Put her on death row.
