US4 min(s) read
Published 15:58 26 Jun 2026 GMT
A handwritten letter reportedly sent by convicted killer Taylor Parker to the father of her former partner has emerged, with the death row inmate apologizing for her crimes and asking repeatedly for forgiveness.
Parker, now 33, was sentenced to death four years ago after being found guilty of murdering her friend, 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, who was eight months pregnant, before cutting her unborn daughter from her womb in a horrific attempt to pass the baby off as her own.
At the time of the murder, Parker had convinced her then-boyfriend Wade Griffin that she was pregnant, despite having undergone a hysterectomy years earlier.
The shocking case is revisited in Netflix's Maternal Instinct, where Griffin speaks publicly for the first time about how Parker maintained the elaborate deception.
Reflecting on her pregnancy claims, he admitted they simply 'made sense to me.'
According to TMZ, which obtained the letter through Bowie County court records, Parker wrote to Wade's father, Jimmy Griffin, on September 20, 2022 - around a month before her capital murder conviction and nearly two years after the killing.
She began the handwritten note with a simple apology.
"Mr Jimmy. I'm sorry."
Parker explained it had taken her time to write because she had 'a lot on her mind and heart.'
Throughout the letter, she repeatedly asked Jimmy to forgive her while acknowledging she 'does not deserve it.'
She also spoke warmly about Wade's father, encouraging him to 'be patient with Wade,' claiming father and son 'don't always see eye to eye.'
According to the letter, Parker also suggested Wade had struggled with feelings of inadequacy.
She wrote that he 'has felt like a disappointment,' adding that he believed his father would never truly be proud of him.
Towards the end of the note, Parker reflected on her own circumstances, writing: "I don't know how this happened or why but I miss my kids and family, but I'm ok."
She finished by asking Jimmy for forgiveness once again before revealing she had not yet written to Wade, asking his father to 'keep it between us.'
In Maternal Instinct, Griffin explained how Parker successfully convinced him she was expecting despite having secretly lost the ability to have children years earlier.
Following complications from pre-eclampsia in 2014, Parker had her tubes tied before undergoing a hysterectomy in 2015 after doctors determined she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
Griffin said the COVID-19 pandemic helped Parker keep him away from medical appointments.
"She would go to a doctors appointment, but I couldn’t ever go in with her because it was COVID at the time," he recalled.
"When I did try to go, she said the doctor had an emergency, or he couldn’t meet us, and we had to reschedule."
To support the lie, Parker reportedly wore a silicone pregnancy bump, posed for maternity photographs and regularly posted images of her apparent pregnancy on social media.
Prosecutors said Parker became fixated on Simmons-Hancock after learning she was expecting a baby girl.
On October 9, 2020, instead of travelling to Oklahoma as she had told Griffin for what she claimed would be an induced labour, Parker drove to Simmons-Hancock's home in New Boston, Texas.
Investigators said she killed the expectant mother before removing unborn daughter Braxlynn Sage from her womb.
Simmons-Hancock's three-year-old daughter was found unharmed inside the home.
Later that day, Parker was stopped by a Texas State Trooper after driving erratically.
As the officer approached, she called 911 requesting medical help, saying:
"I’m starting to have my baby."
The officer found Parker covered in dried blood while holding the infant, whose umbilical cord remained attached.
Doctors quickly established Parker had not given birth, leading to her arrest that same day.
Parker was indicted on charges including capital murder and kidnapping before being convicted in October 2022.
The following month, she was sentenced to death.
In May 2026, the US Supreme Court declined to hear her case, leaving her conviction and death sentence in place. She remains on death row, although no execution date has been scheduled.
