True crime documentary Maternal Instinct will arrive on Netflix this week and tells a troubling tale.
Maternal Instinct recounts the terrifying case of Taylor Parker from Texas, who had a terrible secret.
The factual programme follows wedding photographer Parker, who claimed to come from a wealthy family and was in a relationship with local roofer and hog trapper Wade Griffith.
The couple quickly fell pregnant months into their romance but the truth was far more disturbing.
Parker was showing off her baby bump on social media, but as the due date approached, there were questions from her friends and family about the pregnancy.
When the shocking truth finally emerged, no one could have imagined Parker’s role in the horrific crime.
View 2 ImagesMaternal Instinct recounts the terrifying 2020 Taylor Parker case(Image: NETFLIX)
WARNING: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing
Parker is currently on death row after she was convicted of capital murder in 2022.
She appealed the conviction but was denied a new trial in 2025.
Parker murdered her pregnant friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock in 2020 and removed the unborn baby girl Braxlynn from her womb.
She then took the deceased infant with her, but was quickly pulled over by a State Trooper and arrested.
Parker confessed to faking the pregnancy and removing the baby to claim the child as her own.
She left Simmons-Hancock’s three-year-old daughter alone with her dying mother as she fled from the scene of the crime.
View 2 ImagesTaylor Parker faked her pregnancy and will be the focus of Netflix’s Maternal Instinct(Image: NETFLIX)
As part of her elaborate fake pregnancy scheme, Parker would wear a pillow under her clothes and fakes ultrasounds.
She even threw a gender-reveal party and posted about it online.
Parker brutally murdered Simmons-Hancock after previously befriending her with the aim to take her baby, People reported.
Get Netflix free with SkyThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
£5.99£0SkyGet the deal here
Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.
Tragically, Simmons-Hancock had hired Parker to take her engagement shoot photos and later her wedding pictures.
Simmons-Hancock’s mother Jessica Brookes testified at the trial and said she had realised that the two women had been in contact much until her daughter had shared news of here pregnancy.
Brookes was also surprised when she found out the two women were meeting up because she didn’t think they spent much time together.
In the trailer for the upcoming Netflix show, one person says: “It’s unimaginable what she did. I don’t even know how to explain it.”
Article continues below
Maternal Instinct is released on Netflix today