A Texas woman went on trial this week for allegedly killing a pregnant acquaintance and cutting out her fetus to pass it off as her own child.
Taylor Parker, 29, may encounter capital punishment for the October 2020 attack in New Boston, northeast Texas, on 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock. The child did not survive.
Parker has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Prosecutors say Parker disguised herself for months to appear pregnant in front of her boyfriend and posted information about her fake physical condition on social media while looking for a potential victim.
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Why would anyone kill and steal?
Parker could not have children her own, having undergone a hysterectomy.
Prosecutors say Parker staged a ruse to trick her boyfriend into thinking she was carrying his child because she was afraid of losing the man.
The indictment alleges that on October 9, 2020, Parker entered the home of Simmons-Hancock, a friend of hers who was late in her pregnancy, and stabbed her more than 100 times.
Parker allegedly cut out her fetus, left the woman’s three-year-old child sleeping in another room and fled the scene.
Where is the child now?
Parker was driving with the baby in her lap when police pulled her over a short time later. She said she had just given birth.
The child was taken to the hospital, but died.
The trial is expected to last at least a month.
The court heard Tuesday that in the weeks before the murder, Parker began looking for pregnant women in children’s clothing stores or maternity hospitals, KTAL TV reported.
Shortly before the attack, she had watched a video of women giving birth and undergoing caesarean sections, prosecutors alleged.
© Agence France-Presse
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