Unspeakable: A Look At The Youngest Woman on Texas Death Row
Taylor Rene Parker is the youngest woman currently sitting on Texas Death Row. At 31, she is nearly 20 years younger than her youngest "peers". And depending on your perspective, her crimes may be the most unspeakable of them all.
On October 9th, 2020, Taylor Rene Parker murdered Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock by stabbing her over 100 times with a scalpel, beating her with a hammer, and hitting her with a large unity sand jar from Regan's wedding. Defensive wounds, such as a missing fingertip on Regan showed that she had fought back as hard as she could- all while Regan's 3-year-old daughter was present in the home. Regan was cut from hip to hip and her uterus was removed. Taylor had brutally slain her "friend" in order to cut her baby from her body. Sadly, the baby did not survive.
All of that alone is enough to show the incredibly psychotic nature of this crime, and yet, it somehow gets worse. This was no crime of passion, nor was this a woman desperate for the love of a child. It was a methodically planned attempt to cover months and months of lies fueled by greed and the desire to manipulate everyone around her.
Taylor had been lying to her boyfriend Wade Griffin for months about being pregnant in a bid to keep him- and his assets. Taylor had previously had a hysterectomy and was unable to have children. Using the pandemic as cover, she told Wade that he could not attend any prenatal appointments with her, and even went as far as to purchase items from fakeababy.com which supplies fake ultrasound pictures. fake pregnancy stomachs and other items.
Taylor is a pathological liar and a serial manipulator. She had lied about so much more than being pregnant- that her mother was dead, that Taylor was an oil heiress, that her mother was in the mafia, and that Taylor had various illnesses and conditions that made her unable to work. She even told outrageous lies in jail while awaiting trial. Her jailhouse lover testified about Taylor's version of the events- she was drugged by gang members named J-Dog and Fatboy and delivered her friend's baby like a true friend and a hero. Imagine telling anyone that with a straight face.
It only took the jury an hour to decide that Taylor deserved the death penalty for her crime. In Texas, only capital murder is eligible for this ultimate punishment. Murders are considered capital only under certain criteria, including committing another felony when the murder occurs. Taylor's defense argued against the kidnapping charge of Reagan's baby, claiming the baby was already dead when Taylor removed it. The jury obviously didn't buy that line of reasoning.
There is a change.org petition to release Taylor from death row because she "Wasn't in her right mind" when she murdered Reagan, and because of the aforementioned debate of the baby's "aliveness". It currently has 20 signatures.