A Bowie County jury last month found Taylor Rene Parker guilty of capital murder in the fall 2020 murders of Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock, 21, and her baby. Parker was also convicted of kidnapping the baby who was cut from the womb of the victim who later died. Online court records show jurors handed down the death sentence Wednesday. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, although a jury had been tasked with imposing the sentence, with the alternative of life in prison without parole. Simmons-Hancock’s body was found on October 9, 2020, at her home in New Boston, about 160 miles northeast of Dallas near the Texas-Oklahoma state line. This photo provided by the Bi-State Detention Center in Texarkana, Texas, shows Taylor Parker. Parker was convicted of murder on Monday, October 3, 2022, for killing a pregnant woman to take her unborn baby. (State Detention Center via AP, Archive) According to a probable cause affidavit, that same month, Parker told her boyfriend she was pregnant, threw a gender reveal party and said she was going to a hospital in Oklahoma to pre-register for the birth. That same day, police received a 911 call from a woman who reported someone had killed her daughter, the affidavit shows. Responding officers found Simmons-Hancock, who was 34 weeks pregnant, with a large cut across her abdomen and the baby no longer in her abdomen. The affidavit continues to read, Texas state troopers conducted a traffic stop that day and found Parker holding a baby in her arms and “the umbilical cord was attached to the infant, who appeared to be coming out of the woman’s pants. as if she gave birth to the child,” the affidavit continues. Playboy model convicted in doctor’s death: Playboy model pleads guilty to murder of 71-year-old psychiatrist found in car trunk Tay-Tay on queerbaiting: Kit Connor, Taylor Swift and the perils of queerbaiting categories During the hearing, a photo of Hancock’s body at the crime scene was shown, KSLA reported. Prosecutors said they want to be remembered as a mother who died fighting for her baby. Earlier in the trial, Hancock’s fingernails were found on the placenta. The story continues Parker’s lawyers had argued the baby was never alive and asked to dismiss a kidnapping charge, which would have reduced the manslaughter charge to murder. But at trial, several medical professionals testified that the infant had a heartbeat when it was born. “We are so thankful that justice was served today, not only for our family, our friends, the prosecution team, our community,” Jessica Brooks, the victim’s mother, told local news outlet KSLA. Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas woman who killed pregnant friend, stole baby, sentenced to death
