Overview
- Parker is accused of killing her friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock and cutting the unborn baby from her womb on October 9, 2020, before trying to present the infant as her own.
- A Bowie County jury convicted Parker of capital murder in October 2022 and she was sentenced to death in November 2022, with the Texas appeals court affirming the verdict in 2025 and the U.S. Supreme Court declining further review in May 2026; she is held at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit awaiting execution.
- Netflix released the three-part documentary Maternal Instinct on June 12, 2026, which has driven renewed reporting on trial records, medical evidence and how warning signs were missed.
- McCurtain Memorial Hospital, where Parker sought treatment after claiming she had given birth, issued a public request on June 17 asking viewers not to visit and urging respect for the victim’s family and hospital staff.
- Reagan’s widower has filed a negligence and wrongful-death suit naming Parker and Wade Griffin, the man Parker dated who has been portrayed in reporting as a victim of her manipulation, and the renewed coverage has raised fresh questions about institutional failures and the ethics of true-crime storytelling.