A woman accused of killing a New Boston, Texas, woman and taking her unborn baby was indicted by a Bowie County grand jury today for capital murder and kidnapping.
Taylor Rene Parker, 27, aka Taylor Morton, faces life without parole or the death penalty if convicted of capital murder.
Parker is accused of attacking 21-year-old Reagan Simmons Hancock at her home in New Boston on the morning of Oct. 9. Parker was stopped by a Texas state trooper near DeKalb, Texas, at 9:37 a.m., according to a probable cause affidavit.
Parker was allegedly attempting to perform CPR on the infant in her lap and allegedly claimed she gave birth to the baby on the side of the road. Parker and the infant were transported by ambulance to a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma. The baby was pronounced dead and doctors there determined Parker had not given birth.
Parker was arrested in Oklahoma after Hancock’s mother discovered her body and paramedics determined the baby had been cut from the mother’s body.
Parker had allegedly been faking a pregnancy and was a friend of Hancock’s. Parker’s boyfriend told investigators he and Parker had a gender reveal party and that he believed she was pregnant with his child. The boyfriend said he expected to meet Parker at the Idabel hospital that day at “about lunch time” for an induced delivery.
Parker allegedly confessed to the phony pregnancy and admitted to using a small scalpel to remove the unborn infant from Hancock’s body. The scalpel was found lodged in Hancock’s neck during an autopsy performed at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.
Parker is being held in the Bowie County jail with bail at $5 million. Texarkana attorney Jeff Harrelson has been appointed to represent her and the case is assigned to 202nd District Judge John Tidwell. First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp is the assigned prosecutor.
