Taylor Parker compared life on Death Row to 'Hilton Hotel' in only interview behind bars
Taylor Parker was sentenced to death in 2022 after having been found guilty of murdering Reagan Simmons Hancock and kidnapping her unborn baby, cutting open her belly and stealing the fetus from her.
The horrific case in which Parker lied to her boyfriend Wade Griffin about being pregnant for months prior to the murder and attempt to steal Reagan’s baby has seen renewed interest thanks to Netflix’s new hit true crime documentary Maternal Instinct.
Despite having been sentenced to death in 2022 however, Taylor Parker is still alive today, living on Death Row in Texas as one of only seven female inmates.
She is statistically unlikely to be executed anytime soon either, with the average time before execution on death row being a whopping 11 years due to the complex system of appeals that apply to death sentences.
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In her sole interview from behind bars though, Parker spoke about what it was like living on Death Row and even said it was like living at a ‘Hilton Hotel’ compared to being in ‘genpop’, general population prison.
Parker was interviewed as part of a feature about the nuns that help support death row prisoners
Parker spoke to The New Yorker as part of the feature The Nuns Trying to Save the Women on Texas’s Death Row. Netflix’s Maternal Instinct purposely did not seek out an interview with the murderer, with the director stating they wanted to focus on the victim Reagan, leaving this the best insight into Parker’s state of mind years on from her horrific crime.
She said in the interview that the weight of her crimes only really hit her during her trial, pinpointing the moment she ‘saw reality’. Parker said: “I was in a full-on war in my mind. I told myself, ‘You didn’t do what they said. It’s lies’.
“My realization came when I had to face the autopsy photos. Jesus hit me straight on, flesh to flesh. That courtroom was so silent, but I heard his voice loud and clear. He told me to open my eyes and see reality.”
Parker said she is ‘grateful’ to be in prison and said that county jail was a terrible experience
The murderer was not granted bail after her arrest, spending almost two years in county jail awaiting her trial and sentencing.
Speaking about this experience she said that she had been placed on a ‘four-unit cell with mentally unstable inmates’, adding: “I was with inmates who ate feces and blood.
“This is the Hilton compared to the county jail.”
She continued by saying she was grateful to be in prison, adding: “It reminds me of those things that controlled me for so long.
“It’s the hardest thing to admit, but I do not believe in going home for myself. My place is here.
“I stand firm on the belief you do not deserve to have something you took from another. That’s part of the acknowledgment and acceptance process on the road to redemption.”
Parker also acknowledged the day in court where she heard the impact statements read out by Reagan’s loved ones, saying: “Every word spoken by the family I took with me that day.
“They were true words of pain and grief and love that I needed to hear to start my road to redemption.”
Speaking in the documentary, Regan’s sister Emily Simmons, said that she hoped that Taylor prayed for forgiveness from God because 'Hell is too good for her'.
A timeline of Taylor Parker’s crime
2014
Mother-of-two and wedding photographer Taylor Parker decides to get her tubes tied after suffering pre-eclampsia, a dangerous condition which raises blood pressure, during her last pregnancy.
2015
Parker goes to her doctor with bleeding, who concludes she has had an ectopic pregnancy. She undergoes a hysterectomy, permanently removing her ability to conceive children.
July 2019
Parker, who is now twice divorced, meets hog trapper Wade Griffin at a local rodeo and they start a relationship. She lies to him that she is the heir to a $6 million estate.
September 2019
Jessica Brookes hires Parker as the photographer at her daughter Reagan Hancock’s wedding to longtime boyfriend Homer Hancock. Parker also previously took their engagement photos.
January 2020
Parker tells Griffin she’s pregnant, who doesn’t know about the hysterectomy. To maintain the ruse, Parker wears a fake pregnancy bump, takes maternity photos and throws a gender reveal party. She claims her due date is September.
Staffers at the hospital where Parker had her hysterectomy are ‘very confused’ about her social media updates, but are bound by privacy laws.
May 2020
Hancock tells her mum Jessica that she’s pregnant with her second child. Jessica later says that after Parker finds out Hancock is pregnant and expecting a girl, she starts to have more contact with her.
September 2020
After her ‘due date’ passes, Parker tells Griffin she will need to be induced or have a C-section.
9 October 2020
Parker watches a video on how to deliver a baby pre-term at 35 weeks, the length of Hancock’s pregnancy. She tells Griffin she is travelling to Idabel, Oklahoma to be induced. Instead, she travels to Hancock’s home, killing her and cutting her unborn child, Braxlynn Sage, from her womb. Hancock’s three-year-old daughter is later found in the house unharmed.
Parker is later pulled over by a Texas State Trooper for erratic driving. As the trooper is approaching her car, she calls 911 and asks for an ambulance, saying: “I’m starting to have my baby.”
The trooper finds Taylor covered in dried blood and holding Hancock’s dead baby, with the umbilical cord still attached.
She is taken to hospital, where it is soon determined she has not given birth. She is arrested the same day.
December 2020
Taylor is indicted by a grand jury on charges of capital murder and kidnapping.
October 2022
Parker is convicted of capital murder.
November 2022
Parker is sentenced to death. Jessica says a ‘heavy burden has been lifted’.
May 2026
The Supreme Court says it will not review Parker’s case. She remains on death row. A date of execution has not been set.
12 June 2026
Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct is released.
Maternal Instincts is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: True Crime, Netflix, TV and Film, Documentaries
Michael Slavin