A local woman allegedly murdered an expectant New Boston woman in October, taking her unborn baby from her body.
Taylor Parker, aka Taylor Morton and Taylor Wacasey, was indicted by a Bowie County grand jury last month on charges of capital murder and kidnapping in the deaths of Reagan Michelle Simmons Hancock and her unborn daughter, Braxlynn Sage Hancock.
Parker had been faking a pregnancy for months, according information gathered by local investigators. The alleged crimes were part of a plan to take the baby as her own. It was a story that shocked the region and got national attention because of its horrible nature.
The capital murder charge involves the mother's death while the kidnapping charge involves the abduction of the unborn infant
Parker, 27, allegedly attacked 21-year-old Reagan Hancock the morning of Oct. 9 at her home in New Boston, according to a probable cause affidavit. A Texas state trooper pulled Parker over in DeKalb, Texas, not far from the Oklahoma border, just after 9:30 a.m. that morning.
Parker allegedly was performing CPR on the infant girl in her lap and the umbilical cord appeared to be coming from her pants. Parker allegedly claimed to have delivered the child roadside.
An ambulance transported Parker and the baby to McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, where the baby was pronounced deceased and doctors determined Parker had not given birth.
Approximately 10:20 a.m. the same morning, Hancock's mother discovered her daughter's body in the living room of the New Boston home Hancock shared with her husband and 3-year-old daughter.
When Hancock's mother called 911 mid-morning Oct. 9, she "was screaming that someone killed her baby."
After learning Hancock was approximately 34 weeks along, just six weeks away from a full term pregnancy, paramedics were asked to check on the status of the unborn child.
When LifeNet personnel turned Hancock over, a large cut across her abdomen was revealed and it was determined the baby had been removed.
Parker allegedly confessed to an investigator with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation that she was not pregnant and admitted to having been in an "altercation" with Hancock.
"Parker used a small scalpel to remove the unborn infant from the body," the affidavit states.
Parker and Reagan Hancock were friends on Facebook and reportedly knew one another. Reagan Hancock had posted a sonogram photo on the social media site with an early November due date. The post included a name for the baby, Braxlynn Sage Hancock.
Parker allegedly convinced her boyfriend she was pregnant and often made social media posts supporting her claim. The boyfriend reported to police the couple held a gender reveal party in advance of Parker's fictitious Oct. 9 due date to celebrate the arrival of a baby that never truly existed. The boyfriend reported that he expected to meet Parker, 27, at a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma, at noon Oct. 9 for a planned, induced labor and delivery.
Parker is being held in the Bowie County jail in downtown Texarkana with bails totaling $5 million.
If convicted of kidnapping, Parker faces two to 10 years in prison. If found guilty of murder she faces five to 99 years or life. If convicted of capital murder, Parker faces a sentence of life without parole or death by lethal injection.