The Two Children Taylor Parker Left Behind as ‘Maternal Instinct’ Brings Her Death Row Story Back Into Focus

The story of Taylor Parker gripped the nation when it first emerged, and it is pulling audiences back in with the arrival of ‘Maternal Instinct’, an investigative documentary directed by Jessica Dimmock that began streaming on Netflix on June 12. While most public conversation has focused on Parker’s fabricated pregnancy and the murder of Reagan Simmons-Hancock, the quieter story of two real children she left behind has received far less scrutiny.

Parker is currently held on death row at the Texas Department of Corrections’ O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville, Texas, following her capital murder conviction in October 2022. Court documents show her two children are named Emersyn and Trey, born to two different men before Parker ever met Wade Griffin.

The Pregnancy Hoax Behind Taylor Parker’s Death Row Conviction

Parker met Griffin at a local rodeo and entered into a relationship with him, lying about being the heir to a large estate almost from the start. For ten months, she sustained a fabricated pregnancy using a silicone belly, forged ultrasound images, and staged gender reveal parties in an effort to keep her boyfriend from discovering the truth.

The deception was made possible in part because Parker had undergone a hysterectomy, a fact she never disclosed to Griffin. Doctors had discovered complex cysts and scarring from endometriosis during a related procedure, and while Parker was still under anesthesia, Wacasey and Prior made the decision to allow physicians to perform the hysterectomy.

On October 9, 2020, Simmons-Hancock was killed inside her home in New Boston, Texas. She was slashed more than 100 times and left in a pool of blood, with her unborn baby Braxlynn Sage Hancock cut from her womb. Parker fled the scene and was later pulled over for speeding by a Texas state trooper, and baby Braxlynn ultimately died at the hospital.

Parker’s trial ended after testimony from 142 witnesses and less than an hour of jury deliberation. She was declared guilty of capital murder and was sentenced to death a month later. In November 2025, her appeal of the kidnapping conviction was denied, and in May 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review her case without explanation.

Taylor Parker’s Daughter Emersyn: Shielded but Aware

Parker was just 17 years old when she gave birth to her daughter, who she shared with then-boyfriend Donald Whiteside, according to court records. Parker’s mother Shonna Prior testified during the sentencing hearing that Whiteside had only been involved in Parker’s life for a brief period. The child’s aunt Jennifer Whiteside took the stand at trial and told the court that, at the time of her testimony in 2022, Whiteside had never once seen his daughter.

The family arranged counseling for Parker’s daughter shortly after Parker’s arrest, doing what they could to protect her from the most disturbing details of the case. Prior told the court that her granddaughter understood in broad terms what had happened, but was being kept from specifics, testifying that the child knew her mother had been responsible for two deaths, per KTAL. Prior was subsequently granted custody of her granddaughter, who also continued to spend time with the Wacasey family, according to court testimony.

Emersyn is now 16 years old. During the sentencing phase, defense attorney Jeff Harrelson presented photographs of family trips, pool days, and gatherings to argue Parker had been an engaged and caring mother. For her children, the documentary’s arrival on Netflix means their mother’s story is once again being discussed across dinner tables and social feeds.

A Son, a Divorce, and Years of Unpaid Child Support

Parker’s son Trey came from her marriage to Tommy Wacasey. During that pregnancy she suffered from pre-eclampsia, a dangerous condition that raises blood pressure, which led to her getting her tubes tied. It was during that procedure that doctors discovered the cysts and endometriosis scarring that resulted in the hysterectomy, which was performed while Parker remained under anesthesia, with Wacasey and Prior authorizing the decision on her behalf.

At the 2017 divorce hearing, Parker appeared without an attorney and confirmed on the record that she had no objection to Wacasey receiving full custody of their then four-year-old son. The judge found the arrangement unusual and instead ordered joint custody with Wacasey as the primary parent, directing Parker to pay $225 per month in child support, a figure Wacasey’s attorney described as a deliberate accommodation because it could have been set higher based on her income.

Wacasey testified during Parker’s sentencing that she had never paid child support and had not lived up to her visitation obligations with their son. By January 2021, Parker had failed to make any payments and owed more than $8,000 in back child support and penalties. Griffin’s mother, Connie Griffin, testified in court that one of the earliest red flags she noticed in her son’s relationship with Parker was that Parker did not have custody of her son.

What ‘Maternal Instinct’ Reveals About the Family Parker Left Behind

Structured as part true-crime investigation and part psychological portrait, ‘Maternal Instinct’ traces how Parker’s efforts to maintain a false pregnancy ended in violence, exploring questions about trust, manipulation, and the extent to which a constructed identity can hold before it collapses under pressure.

For a February 2025 piece in The New Yorker, journalist Lawrence Wright spoke with Parker, who told him she initially could not accept the charges against her. Parker described her reckoning coming slowly, telling Wright that her acceptance of what she had done only arrived when she was confronted with autopsy photographs. She also expressed at the time of that conversation that she no longer believed she deserved to be free.

Parker’s brother Zachary Morton testified that after Parker underwent weight loss surgery, her demeanor shifted dramatically, and what had once appeared to be a focus on family gave way to a preoccupation with herself. That shift, documented through court testimony and drawn out in the Netflix film, traces a pattern of choices that placed her children in an increasingly unsteady position long before October 2020.

Parker appealed her conviction in 2025, with her legal team arguing that the kidnapping charge was invalid given the circumstances, though that appeal was denied. No execution date has yet been set, and Parker remains at the O’Daniel Unit awaiting whatever comes next. The documentary raises the unresolved question of how Emersyn and Trey are living through the renewed attention on their mother’s case, and it’s one worth sitting with after the credits roll: what do you think the long-term impact of ‘Maternal Instinct’ being on Netflix will be for the children Parker left behind?