Maternal Instinct: Inside the Texas Pregnancy Lie That Ended in Murder

October 9, 2020. New Boston, Texas. Reagan Simmons-Hancock, 21 years old and 35 weeks pregnant, is attacked inside her own home while her 3-year-old daughter is in the house. Her attacker wasn't a stranger. It was the photographer who had shot her wedding.

Directed by Jessica Dimmock (The Texas Killing Fields) and produced by Story Syndicate, Maternal Instinct traces the months-long lie that led to that day: Taylor Parker's faked pregnancy, the forged ultrasounds, the gender reveal, and the boyfriend, local hog trapper Wade Griffin, who tells his side on camera. The film leans hard on body camera footage and on interviews with investigators, family, and friends who thought they knew her. Parker herself never appears. It premiered June 12 and debuted at No. 2 on Netflix's English film chart with 15 million views.

How did a lie this big hold up for so long, and how did it finally crack? That's the gut-punch, and the film saves it. Parker was convicted of capital murder in 2022 and sentenced to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the verdict and the sentence, and in May 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal. Today she is one of just seven women on Texas death row.

This one stays with you long after the credits. Stream Maternal Instinct on Netflix tonight, if you can handle it.