Taylor Parker’s shocking crimes were featured in Netflix’s June 2026 documentary Maternal Instinct, providing a deep dive into Parker’s 10-month-long web of lies as she faked a pregnancy with boyfriend Wade Griffin that eventually led her to kill her pregnant friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock, cut her unborn baby from her womb and attempt to pass off Hancock’s infant as her own..
While Parker claimed to be pregnant with her and Griffin’s first child together, she was already the mother of two kids– a son and a daughter – at the time of the killing.
Us Weekly reveals where Parker’s children are today, as well as breaks down everything to know about her horrifying crime.
How Many Kids Does Taylor Parker Have?
Parker was already the mother to a son and daughter when she met Griffin in 2019.
She first became a mother when she was just 17 years old. At the time, she welcomed daughter Emersyn with her then-boyfriend, Donald Whiteside, according to court documents viewed by Us Weekly.
After Parker and Whiteside broke up, she married Tommy Wacasey and they welcomed her second child, son Trey, when she was 21 years old.
Trey’s birth was complicated, so Parker decided to undergo a tubal ligation. The procedure was intended to prevent her from having children in the future.
However, she suffered an ectopic pregnancy two years later. While undergoing an exploratory surgery to treat the ectopic pregnancy, a doctor found an ovarian cyst and scarring from endometriosis . Since Parker was under anesthesia at the time, Wacasey gave the doctor approval to perform a hysterectomy, during which Parker’s uterus, cervix, and one of her ovaries were removed.
Did Taylor Parker Have Custody of Her Children?
At the time of the murder, Parker had custody of Emersyn and it’s not currently clear if Whiteside was involved in his daughter’s life.
Meanwhile, Griffin’s mother, Connie, testified during the trial that Parker did not have custody of Trey when she started dating Griffin, according to WLNS.
It was around the time that Parker claimed to be pregnant with Griffin’s child that she asked Wacasey to take custody of Emersyn, per KTAL.
Where Are Taylor Parker’s Children Now?
Parker’s daughter was temporarily staying at Wacasey’s home at the time of her arrest. Parker’s mother, Shona Prior, then filed for custody of Emersyn and the request was granted, according to Oxygen.
During Parker’s trial, Prior testified that Emersyn continued to see Wacasey and his family on a regular basis. Prior also shared that she found a counselor to help Emersyn process her mother’s crimes.
Additionally, Prior denied having any sort of “custody battle” over Trey with Wacasey. KTAL reported that Parker allegedly didn’t fight for custody of her son when she and Wacasey divorced, and the boy had been living with his father full-time.
What Was Taylor Parker Like as a Mother?
Parker reportedly had a close relationship with her children, and Prior said that both kids “love her” during the trial, according to KTAL News.
Several photos of the family were shared with the court, and attorneys also played jail phone calls between Parker and her children.
In one call, Parker told Emersyn to not talk to people about why she was in jail.
“You explained to me that you didn’t think (Taylor’s daughter) knew about the crime,” First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp asked Prior during the trial, and Prior responded, “She does not know the horrific details. She knows that two people have died at the hands of her mother.”
Meanwhile, Parker’s brother, Zachary Morton, testified that his sister was mostly a “good mother.” However, she would get caught up “when she was chasing another man.”
“I would say when she was chasin’ Wade would be the most recent,” he said, according to KTAL News. “She didn’t necessarily give enough attention to [her daughter] at that time.”
What Did Taylor Parker Do?
While pretending to be pregnant with Griffin’s child and past her September 22 due date, Parker killed Simmons-Hancock and cut the baby out of her body onOctober 9, 2020.
After she strangled and stabbed Simmons-Hancock at her home, performed a crude C-section to remove the unborn child, umbilical cord and placenta from Simmons-Hancock’s womb, Parker fled the scene with the newborn and called 911 from a highway to claim that she had just given birth on the side of the road.
She was then transported to McCurtain Memorial Hospital, where doctors found no evidence that she had given birth and later learned about her hysterectomy.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Chad Dansby then began interviewing her at the hospital, and she was linked to Simmons-Hancock and her baby’s death.
Parker was arrested that same day, and she was later found guilty of capital murder and kidnapping in October 2022. She was later sentenced to death and is currently awaiting her execution on death row.
