A Texas woman went on trial Monday in a brutal murder case after she allegedly stabbed a pregnant woman 100 times and cut her unborn baby from her womb with a scalpel.
Fox News reports Taylor Rene Parker, 29, allegedly murdered Regan Michelle Simmons-Hancock, 21, and her infant daughter on Oct. 9, 2020 at their home in New Boston, Texas.
Parker is accused of using a scalpel to cut the baby girl out of Simmons-Hancock’s womb and then kidnapping the baby, supposedly to claim the child as her own. Authorities said Parker faked being pregnant and told her boyfriend that she was going to be induced on the day when she allegedly murdered Simmons-Hancock.
Parker is pleading not guilty, according to the report.
On Monday, her jury trial began with Bowie County Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp explaining the woman’s motive for allegedly targeting and murdering the pregnant woman.
Crisp said Parker pretended to be pregnant for her boyfriend and family, even faking ultrasounds and hosting a gender reveal party. Crisp pointed to evidence that Parker tried to find a surrogate mother and had offered to pay up to $100,000 for the service, but had been unsuccessful, according to the report.
On Oct. 9, she allegedly traveled to Simmons-Hancock’s home in New Boston and stabbed her to death, cutting her unborn daughter out of her womb, authorities said. Then, Parker allegedly kidnapped the baby girl, leaving Simmons-Hancock dying in her home with her 3-year-old daughter, the report continues.
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While Parker was driving, police said they stopped her and discovered the baby girl. Police said they transported the infant to an Oklahoma hospital where she later died. It is not clear how old the baby was or if she was born prematurely.
The brutal crime is reminiscent of a similar attack on a pregnant Colorado woman. In 2016, Dynel Catrece Lane was sentenced to 100 years in prison for attacking seven-months pregnant Michelle Wilkins and cutting her unborn baby out of her womb. Wilkins survived the attack, but her daughter did not. However, Lane did not face charges for killing Wilkins’ baby girl because of Colorado’s extreme pro-abortion laws.
Unborn victims of violence, or fetal homicide, laws are on the books in 37 states; they recognize the unlawful killing of an unborn baby as homicide in at least some circumstances. However, New York and Illinois repealed their laws as part of larger pro-abortion legislation in 2019.
Homicide is one of the top causes of death among pregnant women, according to a 2021 study in the journal “Obstetrics & Gynecology.” The crime is doubly horrific because it almost always kills two people: a mother and her baby.
