Reagan Hancock's sister reveals the heartbreaking reason behind family's 'Maternal Instinct' appearance
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
For the Hancock family, the Netflix true-crime documentary didn't merely serve as a recounting of their horrific past trauma. Instead, Jessica Brookes and Emily Shirey want to bring about a lasting change in legislation that would be more proactive in protecting pregnant women and their unborn children. They hope the documentary is the first step toward that change. Late Reagen Simmons was a native of New Boston, Texas, and was very close to her mother, Jessica Brookes, and her sister, Emily Shirey. Reagan's life was tragically cut short on October 9, 2020, when Taylor Parker k*lled her while she was 35 weeks pregnant. Parker had previously been Hancock's engagement and wedding photographer and brutally mu*dered Hancock for her unborn baby. Her actions were motivated by her elaborate pretense of being pregnant to alleviate her relationship with her boyfriend. The chilling case has been explored in detail by the Netflix true-crime documentary 'Maternal Instinct'.
"It is so hard to put into words what losing a child is like," Brookes commented while opening up about the murder of her daughter and her unborn granddaughter, named Braxlynn Sage. The day that Hancock was murdered, Brookes remembers, "Half of me died, and that’s not coming back. The Jessica that I used to be is gone, and the part that's left is a part that I never knew was there." It goes without saying that Hancock's murder left a huge and irreplaceable void in the lives of Brookes and Shirey. Despite their loss, the two women vow that some good will eventually come out of the documentary and that they are working to enact new legislation that would help protect pregnant women. Shirey remarked in an interview with PEOPLE magazine, "Then my sister’s murder will not have been in vain."
Parker had undergone a hysterectomy and yet pretended to be pregnant. Unfortunately, the doctors and healthcare professionals who worked with her were constrained by HIPAA laws from revealing the truth about her pregnancy to others. Dr. Christopher Mason, who was the OB/GYN at Northeast Texas Women's Clinic and treated Parker, revealed in the documentary that Parker went about telling everyone that she was pregnant with her boyfriend Wade Griffin's baby, despite knowing she couldn't have children. Eventually, when Griffin's friend Stephanie Ott grew suspicious of her fake pregnancy, she called up the clinic to learn the truth. The healthcare professionals, however, were unable to reveal the extent of Parker's deception at the time.
As Parker's fake due date approached, she grew increasingly desperate to get hold of a baby somehow. She was stopped by police while driving erratically on her way to a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma. Body cam footage reveals Parker telling officers that she had just given birth and that the baby she claimed was hers was limp and pale. In reality, she had murdered Hancock and cut open her womb to steal the baby. Parker is currently on death row in a Texas prison awaiting her execution date. "The law really failed this family," claimed filmmaker Jessica Dimmock. 'Maternal Instinct' is now available on Netflix.
