A woman from Texas has been sentenced to death for killing a pregnant woman and taking her unborn daughter from her womb.
Taylor Parker, 29, was convicted on Oct. 3 of capital murder in the death of Reagan Simmons-Handcock, 21, the Texarkana Gazette reported.
Simmons-Hancock’s mother called Parker an “evil piece of flesh demon,” in court, the newspaper reported.
“My baby was alive still fighting for her babies when you tore her open and ripped her baby from her stomach,” Jessica Brooks said.
The body of Simmons-Hancock was found in her home in New Boston north of Dallas. Her 3-year-old daughter was at the home at the time of her mother’s murder.
Police later pulled over Parker for driving erratically. She told them that she had just given birth. The baby, who was named Braxlynn Sage Hancock, was taken to an Oklahoma hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead.
Prosecutors said Parker had pretended to be pregnant, even faking ultrasounds and hosting a gender reveal party, The Associated Press reported.
Homer Hancock, the husband of the victim, said his wife and Parker were “somewhat friends” and that Parker had been their wedding photographer, the AP reported.
Prosecutors showed the crime scene during closing statements and said that not only was her baby taken from her womb, but Simmons-Hancock was also beaten and slashed hundreds of times by Parker and that the woman deserved the death penalty.
Parker’s attorneys defended their client, saying that “words can be used to dehumanize,” and that there are “layers’ and “shades of gray” to a person’s life, the Gazette reported. He said Parker’s friends and family did not confront her about the fake pregnancy.