Taylor Parker's romantic prison relationships revealed
Taylor Parker has once again become a global story four years after she was sentenced to death for the horrific murder of Reagan Simmons Hancock.
Parker’s murder of Reagan was the focus of Netflix’s true crime documentary Maternal Instinct, as well as her relationship with her boyfriend at the time of the murder Wade Griffin.
She had convinced Griffin she was pregnant by doctoring photos, wearing a silicone belly, and refusing to be intimate with him throughout her ‘pregnancy’.
Warning: This article contains graphic content and descriptions of crime that some readers may find distressing.
A horrific twist in the case came however when she murdered her pregnant friend, Reagan, and cut open her belly in an attempt to steal her baby.
She was caught fairly quickly and was in 2022 sentenced to death, and has remained on death row ever since. Between being caught in 2020 and her death sentence however, Parker spent time in the local County Jail where she got into multiple prison relationships with both men and women.
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During the court proceedings surrounding Parker’s trial the prosecution submitted a detailed document outlining her ‘criminal behaviour’, including that she had lied about being pregnant to multiple partner’s prior to Wade.
Amidst this documented ‘criminal behaviour’ however was details about her relationships, stating that she had ‘repeatedly and continuously maintained multiple romantic relationships with other inmates’.
They stated she would flirt with other inmates and maintain ‘various jailhouse romances’. One of these was with an inmate Lana Addison, who was also involved in a plot by Parker to frame a mentally fragile inmate for her murder, as well as relationship with male inmates, Travis Blocker and Adam Post.
The document states that she also would write to male inmates from other prisons including Allan Pauley and Augustine Diaz.
This included ‘sexually explicit letters exchanged between Diaz and Parker’, with one stating that she was a ‘freak’.
Ironically considering her repeated lies to Wade and other partners however, Parker said in a message to Diaz that she valued ‘honesty’, saying: “Please, I have said this before, I’m so understanding, just don’t lie to me.”
The court document lays out how Parker would have her friends and family contact potential romantic partners, including some of those she formed romantic relationships with in prison.
This included insisting that her family reach out to a romantic partner who had a girlfriend, insisting it was fine even when they stated they were uncomfortable with it.
One of Parker’s more elaborate ploys whilst in jail involved faking sick calls to ‘meet up or pass by one of her jailhouse romantic interests on the way to the medical department’.
The document continued: “The defendant would report bogus medical conditions to the degree that she would be hospitalized.”
Since 2022 however Parker has resided on death row in Texas, one of only seven women. She said death row was like being at 'the Hilton' compared to county jail, adding: "I was with inmates who ate feces and blood."
She stated however that she was 'grateful' to be in prison, saying: "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.”
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 Instinct is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: TV and Film, Film, Documentaries, Netflix, True Crime
Michael Slavin