Woman removes baby from Texas mom's womb, tucks umbilical cord in pants and tells cops she gave birth
TEXARKANA, TEXAS: A Texas woman has confessed to killing a pregnant woman and removing her fetus along with the umbilical cord and then pretending that the baby was hers.
Taylor Parker, 27, of Texarkana, Texas, was charged with the murder of Reagan Simmons Hancock, 21, who was 34 weeks pregnant, and her unborn child. The suspect is currently being held in jail on a $5M bond. Parker was initially stopped by a Texas trooper in DeKalb, Texas, when she was attempting to do CPR on an infant in her lap. "The umbilical cord was connected to the infant, which appeared to be coming out of the female’s pants as if she gave birth to the child," said a trooper who described the scene to Texas Rangers. That was when she told the trooper that she had just had a baby along the side of the road and that the baby wasn’t breathing.
Parker was transported to McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma with the baby. That's when authorities became suspicious of her account. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Chad Dansby told People magazine that Parker refused to be examined by a doctor, which triggered alarm bells for medical staff. "She didn’t want them to check her," he said. "We were told that, so I talked her into letting the doctor check. They called the doctor and he pretty much told us she didn’t have a baby. It was just a matter of getting her to tell us what happened." The baby was later pronounced dead at an Oklahoma hospital.
Meanwhile, Hancock's mom found her daughter face-down in their home "with a large abundance of what appeared to be blood throughout the house", a probable cause affidavit stated. The trail of blood was on the floor, furniture, walls and other items inside the home. There was a large gash across Hancock's stomach and paramedics found that her baby was missing.
After doctors determined Parker did not give birth to the infant, Parker was interrogated by the investigators. That was when she said she had a "physical altercation with Simmons and abducted the unborn child". Soon enough, she admitted to removing the unborn baby from Hancock and confessed to lying about the fact that she was pregnant. "Parker cased the death of Simmons and abducted the unborn child from Simmons’ body," the affidavit read. "Parker did not have consent to leave the home with the child and due to the inability to provide necessary care to the child, Parker caused the death of the baby."
Parker's boyfriend was also interviewed by the investigators who said she told him and some of their friends and relatives she was pregnant. He was also under the impression that she was heading to the hospital to pre-register to be induced that same day. The suspect and her boyfriend also recently held a gender reveal party in celebration of the baby's arrival.
Just months before she was killed, Hancock happily announced the pregnancy on Facebook. "(S)ome of you know, some of you dont... but we are having another SWEET BABYGIRL come november the 10th (give or take). She already acts like her daddy & big sister. We cannot wait for our Braxlynn Sage to be here. Daddy is definitely out numbered,” she wrote in the August post.