Texas woman gets death penalty for killing woman to extract unborn baby

Houston (AFP) - A 29-year-old Texas woman has been sentenced to death for killing a pregnant acquaintance in October 2020 to extract and steal the fetus inside her womb.

Taylor Parker's sentencing was handed down Wednesday in Texas, following several weeks of trial that began in September, according to court documents.

Over months Parker had told her boyfriend and her relatives that she was pregnant. She posted about it on social media and bought a fake silicone belly.

It was all a lie. The truth was that she had had a hysterectomy and could not have a child.

On October 9, 2020, Parker went to the home of Reagan Simmons-Hancock, a 21-year-old acquaintance in the final months of her pregnancy, and stabbed her more than 100 times.

After cutting open her stomach to take her fetus, she departed, leaving the victim's 3-year-old daughter asleep in another room.

Parker was arrested shortly afterward at the wheel of her car about nine miles (15 kilometers) from the murder. The newborn was on her lap. She told authorities that she had just given birth. The baby was hospitalized but did not survive.

Parker was tried in the small town of New Boston, east of Dallas.

A few weeks before the murder, Parker had started searching for pregnant women in stores and maternity wards, according to police testimony at the trial. 

Shortly before the events, she had watched numerous videos of deliveries and Cesarean sections.