After Stolen Baby: The Murder of Heidi Broussard, Netflix is set to release Maternal Instinct, a true-crime documentary that investigates the harrowing 2020 Texas crime committed by Taylor Parker. Directed by Jessica Dimmock, the documentary feature from Story Syndicate tells the story of one of the most shocking murder cases in recent Texas history.
Maternal Instinct is scheduled to premiere globally on June 12, 2026. It explores a horrifying fetal abduction case that shook the country.
Netflix says of the documentary, “Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren’t hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.”
The Taylor Parker case
The case centers on the tragic murder of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock in New Boston, Texas. Much like Magen Fieramusca in the Heidi Broussard case, Taylor Rene Parker had faked her own pregnancy for ten months using a silicone belly, forged ultrasounds, and fake gender reveal parties in an effort to keep her boyfriend, Wade Griffin. Parker attacked Simmons-Hancock, an expectant mother, inside her home.
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Parker murdered Simmons-Hancock and performed a crude C-section to steal her unborn baby, Braxlynn Sage, on October 9, 2020. She then fled the scene.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, “On October 9, 2020, the subject killed a 21-year-old pregnant woman to take her unborn child.”
Parker was eventually pulled over for speeding by a Texas State Trooper in DeKalb. She was found covered in blood and with the deceased infant in her lap.
Parker claimed that she had just given birth on the side of the road, but her lies kept unravelling after she was taken to a nearby Oklahoma hospital, where medical staff found no signs of recent childbirth.
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Parker and Simmons-Hancock reportedly met on the internet and became real-life friends. Parker even took Simmons-Hancock’s engagement pictures in 2019 and later even photographed her wedding.
A Bowie County jury in November 2022 sentenced Parker to death. She is one of the few women on Texas Death Row. That sentence was recently upheld in November 2025.