Texas woman who attempted to steal an unborn baby researched how to fake a pregnancy
Texas officials say the woman allegedly used a scalpel to remove the baby from the woman she killed
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A state police investigator testified Tuesday that a woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and removing her unborn child conducted intensive research on how to fake a pregnancy convincingly.
The testimony came in the capital murder trial of Taylor Rene Parker for the October 2020 killing of Reagan Simmons-Hancock and her stolen child.
Special Agent Dustin Estes of the Texas Department of Public Safety testified that Parker viewed numerous YouTube videos on delivering and caring for babies.
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On the day of the killing, she watched a video on the physical exam of an infant delivered pre-term at 35 weeks, he said. Simmons-Hancock had a 35-week pregnancy when she was killed.
Parker also ran numerous Google searches about pregnancy, Estes said.
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"She watched all these videos, clicked on all these links, and they were all at 35 weeks," prosecutor Kelley Crisp said.
Taylor Rene Parker, above, accused of killing a woman to steal her unborn baby to present as her own, went on trial for capital murder on Sept. 12, 2022. (Bi-State Detention Center via AP)
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"My opinion is Taylor Parker faked her pregnancy. ... She planned and carried out the murder of Reagan," Estes said.
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Parker's attorney, Jeff Harrelson, challenged that opinion, telling Estes, "You can see somebody looked them up, but you don’t know why. You can have a theory."
Parker, 29, has pleaded not guilty to capital murder and kidnapping in the October 2020 deaths of Simmons-Hancock, 21, 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, Texas, home before a scalpel was used to remove her unborn baby. She is also charged with non-capital murder in connection with the baby’s death.
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In her opening statement Monday, Crisp told the Bowie County jury that Parker 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 gender-reveal party and posted about her fake pregnancy on social media while searching for a possible victim, Crisp said.