Pregnant Woman Murdered By Her Wedding Photographer

In late 2020, Reagan Hancock was a 21 year old from New Boston, Texas, living with her husband, Homer, and their 3 year old daughter, Kynlee.

Eight months pregnant with their second child, she was eagerly preparing to grow the family she had always dreamed of. That future was tragically cut short—her unborn daughter’s life began and ended under horrifying circumstances, and Reagan never got the chance to see the life she had so lovingly planned come to be.

On the morning of 9th October 2020, while at work, Homer received a troubling message. A neighbour had found the Hancock family dog wandering alone down the street and noticed that the garage door was wide open. Growing concerned, the neighbour went to the front door and knocked—but no one answered.

After repeated attempts to reach his wife went unanswered, Homer called his mother-in-law, Jessica Brooks, and asked her to check on Reagan. When Jessica entered the home, she was met with a devastating scene—her daughter lying face down on the living room floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. Overcome with shock and grief, she collapsed to her knees.

Reagan had been cut open from hip to hip and her baby, who the couple had planned to call raxlynn Sage, had been removed. Jessica dialed 911, her voice breaking as she pleaded into the phone, “Help me! My daughter’s been murdered! There’s blood everywhere! Oh, my babies—oh my God!”

Reagan's death had been cruelly violent, having been stabbed over 100 times and suffering a broken nose, 5 skull fractures and defensive wounds to her hands, it was clear she had put up an intense fight for the life of her and her unborn child.

Kynlee was later found hiding in another room, physically unharmed. Tragically, she had witnessed the entire ordeal.

As investigators quickly got underway trying to find Raegan's killer and locate her baby, nobody could ever have imagined what would unfold...

A tragic friendship

Taylor Parker, a 27 year old twice-divorced mother of two, began dating Wade Griffin in the summer of 2019 after the two met at a rodeo. Just weeks into the relationship, she told him she was pregnant with his child. The couple staged a photoshoot and even hosted a gender reveal, announcing they were expecting a baby girl they planned to name Clancy.

But none of it was real.

There was no pregnancy—there never had been.

Unbeknownst to Wayne, was that Taylor had undergone a tubal ligation in 2014 after the birth of her second child with her ex-husband. When her ex had learned of the pregnancy, he sent Wade an anonymous message warning him it was impossible and informing him that Taylor must be lying. Wade confronted Taylor, but she dismissed it, insisting her ex was simply jealous.

As the months passed, inconsistencies began to surface. Wade’s mother questioned why Taylor showed no signs of pregnancy—until, seemingly overnight, she appeared with a pronounced baby bump. Despite the growing doubts, Wade stood by her, even cutting off contact with his mother after heated disagreements.

Many assumed the deception would eventually unravel on its own—that Taylor would stage a miscarriage to explain it away. Instead, she escalated the lie in a far more disturbing direction.

By then, the timeline was becoming impossible to ignore. Taylor had been “pregnant” for ten months, with no baby in sight. Just four days before the murder, she placed a bomb threat to the hospital where she was supposedly scheduled for an induction.

Taylor needed a baby—and she needed one quickly. That’s when she thought of Reagan Hancock.

In 2019, Reagan had hired Taylor to photograph her wedding, and the two had stayed in touch afterward. Through Facebook, Taylor followed Reagan’s life closely, watching as she shared joyful updates about her pregnancy.

On the evening of 8th October, Taylor stopped by Reagan’s home with a Starbucks gift card, congratulating her on her pregnancy. The gesture seemed thoughtful—friendly, even.

But the following morning, Taylor returned unannounced, catching Reagan as she was getting ready for her final shift at a fast-food restaurant before beginning maternity leave.

Armed with a hammer, she attacked the heavily pregnant and vulnerable woman with it before picking up a glass jar full of pink and blue sand from Reagan's gender reveal party and bludgeoning her about the head. All the while, Reagan's young daughter looked on helplessly.

In a vicious act, Taylor then took a scalpel and began to slice Reagan's stomach open to get to her unborn child. After doing so, she held the baby up to Reagan's cheek and muttered "Say bye, mommy."

To ensure Reagan was dead, Taylor slit her throat, and plunged the knife into her neck. Taylor then stuffed the placenta into her pants and sped away from the scene, narrowly avoiding a collision with a truck. A police officer soon pulled her over and found her in the driver’s seat, crying hysterically, with a newborn baby on her lap.

She claimed to the officer that she had just given birth by the side of the road—and that the baby wasn’t breathing. Both were rushed to the hospital.

But a doctor quickly discovered the shocking truth...Taylor had no uterus and could not have given birth.

The horror deepened just 40 minutes later, when authorities received a call reporting that a pregnant woman had been murdered in her home—and her unborn child was missing.

DNA testing confirmed that the baby was indeed Reagan and Homer’s daughter, Braxlynn Sage. Tragically, she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Medical examiners determined that Braxlynn had been born with a heartbeat and could have survived if she had received immediate medical attention.

Taylor was immediately charged with kidnapping and two counts of capital murder. The case drew national attention, earning her the chilling nickname “the Womb Raider.”

In court, Taylor was surprisingly found competent to stand trial. Experts argued that only a mentally sound person could have orchestrated such a complex plan involving deceit and murder.

The prosecution painted a picture of obsession: Taylor was fixated on Wade, while he showed little interest in the relationship.

To keep him close, she fabricated a pregnancy—purchasing a baby bump online, showing him an old sonogram, and claiming he couldn’t accompany her to doctor visits because of COVID-19. Wade, trusting every update she provided, had no reason to doubt her.

On 9th November 2022, Taylor Parker was sentenced to death. She is now one of only seven women on death row in the state of Texas.

In the aftermath, reports revealed that Kynlee was grappling with profound trauma, exhibiting fear-driven behaviours—such as constantly checking to make sure other people’s bellies weren’t bleeding.

Her family—including her grandparents, and aunt, Emily Simmons—have dedicated themselves to helping Kynlee heal and preserving Reagan’s memory. They describe their journey as “living in the after,” navigating life in the wake of an unimaginable tragedy.