Where is Wade Griffin now? What we know about Taylor Parker’s ex-boyfriend featured in ‘Maternal Instinct’
While Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary ‘Maternal Instinct’ centers on convicted killer Taylor Parker, the film also shines a light on the people whose lives were shattered by her deception. Among them is Wade Griffin, Parker’s former boyfriend. Today, Griffin appears to be living a much quieter life, largely away from public attention. However, the documentary reveals just how Parker’s lies affected him and his family long before the horrifying events of 2020 came to light. According to ‘Maternal Instinct’, the two crossed paths during the summer of 2019 at a rodeo. Parker approached Griffin and struck up a conversation by asking whether he was single. Looking back on that first encounter in the documentary, Griffin remembered, “She was a pretty girl, smiling from ear to ear.”
Within a few months, Parker had moved into Griffin’s home in New Boston, Texas, bringing along her two children from previous relationships. According to testimony presented during the investigation and trial, many of Parker’s claims were fabricated. She told Griffin and his family that she came from a wealthy oil family and was expecting an $8 million inheritance. However, the money never appeared, and growing financial troubles, including a vehicle repossession, raised suspicions about her story. As her relationship with Griffin faced growing strain, Parker claimed she was pregnant with his child and even discussed baby names and future plans. Investigators later discovered Parker had previously undergone a hysterectomy and faked the pregnancy using a silicone prosthetic.
The deception eventually led her to target Reagan Hancock, a pregnant woman she knew through her photography business. On October 9, 2020, seventeen days after Parker’s supposed due date had already passed, events took a tragic turn. While Griffin was away from home, Parker drove to Hancock’s residence. Parker attacked 21-year-old Reagan Hancock and attempted to take her unborn baby before trying to pass the child off as her own. Her story unraveled at a hospital when medical staff determined she had not recently given birth. Parker was arrested, convicted of capital murder in 2022, and sentenced to death. She remains on Texas death row while pursuing appeals. As for Griffin, investigators never suggested he had any role in the crime. Authorities treated him as another victim of Parker’s deception, someone who had been manipulated into believing a false reality for months.
Since the trial concluded, Griffin has largely stepped away from public life. Aside from participating in the Netflix documentary, he has rarely spoken publicly about the case. His social media presence remains limited. His Instagram account is set to private, though the biography visible on the page offers a glimpse into his outlook following years of scrutiny and heartbreak. Per Cosmopolitan, it reads, “Eventually all pieces fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment and know that everything happens for a reason.” In ‘Maternal Instinct’, Griffin speaks openly about the emotional toll of learning that much of what he believed about his relationship was untrue. “I never, ever wanted anything like that to happen,” he says, “It was unimaginable what she did.”
