The Reel Review
A routine highway traffic stop in far northeast Texas near the Oklahoma border in 2020 yields a shocking discovery – a woman traveling with a newborn infant who is not breathing. Over the next few hours, the horrifying truth comes to light. Jessica Dimmock directs this true crime documentary about Taylor Parker, the youngest woman currently on death row in Texas.
Using time jumps, interviews with friends and family and lots of Parker’s own social media posts, Maternal Instinct chronicles the incredible web of lies that the diabolical Parker concocted and how she was able to manipulate a shockingly gullible (or maybe just not so bright) group of people – including her own boyfriend – into believing she was pregnant despite evidence that she wasn’t. The interviews with family members of the pregnant murder victim, whom Taylor had befriended while working as her wedding photographer, however, feel lurid and exploitive.
There are a myriad of questions this fascinating but mediocre documentary fails to answer – like the root cause for Taylor’s deception, as well as vital information about the pregnant murder victim Reagan Simmons-Hancock and the level of awareness she had about Taylor’s elaborate fake pregnancy prior to her murder. But that said, this horrific crime story is still worth a watch for those interested in true crime.
REEL FACTS
• Taylor Parker remains incarcerated at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas. On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court denied her death sentence appeal, which has paved the way for the date to be set for her execution.
• Homicide is the #1 cause of death among pregnant women.
• Reagnn Simmons-Hancock’s husband Homer has remarried and had another child with his new wife as they raise his daughter Kynlee. Homer has a wrongful death lawsuit against Parker and her boyfriend still pending.
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