Netflix's 'Maternal Instinct' Documents the Disturbing True Crime Case of Taylor Parker
Netflix has released 'Maternal Instinct,' a true crime documentary directed by Jessica Dimmock about the 2020 killing of Reagan Simmons-Hancock in De Kalb, Texas, by her friend Taylor Parker, who had faked a pregnancy and murdered Simmons-Hancock to take her unborn child. Parker, who had undergone a hysterectomy at 21, spent months deceiving her boyfriend Wade Griffin and their community with fabricated pregnancy evidence before being caught by state troopers after the crime. Both reviewers found the documentary to be a responsible, non-sensationalist treatment of an exceptionally disturbing case.
Directed by Jessica Dimmock and executive produced by Liz Garbus, 'Maternal Instinct' chronicles how Taylor Parker, a woman from a wealthy family who had secretly had a hysterectomy, faked a pregnancy for months to maintain a relationship with East Texas hog trapper Wade Griffin, ultimately murdering her friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock — who was 21 and pregnant with her second child — and attempting to pass the infant as her own. Parker was apprehended on October 9, 2020, when a state trooper pulled her over for erratic driving and discovered the newborn in her lap; hospital examinations confirmed she had never been pregnant. The documentary follows a largely linear structure, beginning with the shocking dashcam footage of Parker's arrest before tracing how she cultivated relationships, fabricated financial wealth, staged a gender-reveal party, and used social media to sustain her deception. Dimmock deliberately withholds the full nature of the crime early in the film, a creative choice she describes as mirroring the experience of the victim's family. The film gives significant final focus to Reagan's mother and family, and both reviewers praised it for avoiding sensationalism, refraining from psychological conjecture, and centering the tragedy on its victims rather than its perpetrator.
What's missing
Neither review addresses the outcome of Taylor Parker's criminal trial — including whether she was convicted, what sentence she received, or the current legal status of the case — which would be relevant context for viewers of a documentary about a real crime.
How coverage differed
The Hollywood Reporter's review is written from a personal, first-person perspective emphasizing the reviewer's emotional discomfort as a parent, while the New York Post's review takes a more structured, plot-summary approach with explicit verdicts and content ratings. The Post also provides significantly more factual detail about the crime itself, whereas THR deliberately avoids specifics to preserve the documentary's narrative impact.
What different sources said
- New York PostRight
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Maternal Instinct’ on Netflix, an Upsetting True Crime Documentary About the Murder of a Pregnant Woman and Her Child
- The Hollywood ReporterCenter
My Paternal Instinct Should’ve Warned Me About Netflix’s ‘Maternal Instinct’
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