Published June 12, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET

True crime documentary Maternal Instinct (now on Netflix) chronicles one of the most disturbing stories in recent memory. In 2020, the death of Reagan Simmons-Hancock made headlines for its brutality. Her friend Taylor Parker, having faked her own pregnancy for months, killed Simmons-Hancock and cut the fetus from her body, intending to pass it off as her own. The sensitive nature of this story had us hoping Netflix wouldn’t produce another sensationalist doc – some of the streamer’s true crime content can feel exploitative – but director Jessica Dimmock’s (Thoughts and Prayers) straightforward approach assuaged that concern.

MATERNAL INSTINCT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: De Kalb, Texas. We see dashcam and bodycam footage from Oct. 9, 2020 as Taylor Parker is pulled over by state police for driving erratically. The image of the fetus in her lap, umbilical cord attached, is blurred out. She’s hysterical, claiming she gave birth on the side of the road and is driving to the hospital. Footage from the hospital finds her in bed as nurses, doctors and police discuss what’s happening: ultrasounds and exams indicate she was never pregnant. Detectives sit down next to her bed to question her. She’s insistent. “It’s mine!” she exclaims. 

The incident fully teased, the film cuts away. New Boston, Texas is a small burg of 4,500 people near the Oklahoma border. Interviewees say it’s the kind of town where “you can trust” everyone. But “people do evil things,” one talking head says. Another: “I still can’t believe it.” Next we learn who Taylor is. Former friends describer her using phrases like “all her personalities” and “loves attention” and “flirtatious.” The latter point helped her become the object of Wade Griffin’s infatuation in 2019. He’s a self-described “country boy” who raises hogs and cattle, and wears a cowboy hat as he sits with Dimmock for interviews. He says Taylor liked living in the country and going hog hunting with him and was devoted and supportive. She also said she was in line to inherit millions from her rich family. She quickly moved into his house, bought him an expensive truck, bought his mother a new car, and was working on acquiring a $4 million ranch for him. They’d only been together a few months, and here’s cell phone footage of her at Wade’s family Christmas, the center of attention as she excitedly describes their soon-to-be new home.

Wade’s friends told him he’d “found a good one” in this outgoing, generous, attractive woman. But he says he felt some doubts. This was all happening so quickly. It just didn’t, you know, feel right. Taylor had two kids from previous relationships, but she rarely spent time with them. She said she was constantly feuding about her inheritance with her mother, who she characterized as mentally unstable. Wade’s mother’s new car was repossessed after three weeks. Real estate agents say they were getting the runaround from bankers and lawyers as they tried to vet Taylor’s financial situation. 

And then, Taylor reveals that she’s pregnant. Her and Wade’s friends and neighbors say that he seemed cold and distant to her, uneasy with the situation. Maybe it wasn’t quite what he wanted, but he nevertheless was committed to being a father. Taylor planned a gender-reveal party that’s described by attendees as “awkward.” One of her friends points out that the document Taylor shared detailing the baby’s gender as being dated 2016, which Taylor explains away as a clerical error. We see multiple social media selfies of Taylor holding her belly like a proud mama-to-be. Social media selfies that former friends and doctors know are phony beyond a shadow of a doubt, because when she was 21, Taylor had a hysterectomy. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Maternal Instinct and the recent The Murder of Rachel Nickell are excellent examples of more responsible and respectful docs among Netflix’s mountainous stable of true crime content.

Performance Worth Watching: Reagan’s mother, Jessica Brookes, bravely provides some incredibly difficult testimony, including descriptions of what happened when she found her daughter’s body.

Sex And Skin: None.

Our Take: An exasperated friend of Wade’s sums it up: “It’s some crazy, jacked-up junk, for sure.” I’m not sure there’s any way to make sense of this, and Maternal Instinct wisely doesn’t try. Beyond the opening tease that’s endemic to modern documentaries, Dimmock sticks to a primarily linear storyline, only occasionally cutting away to fill in backstory. Case in point, how Taylor’s side job prior to meeting Wade found her photographing Reagan’s wedding, where she bonded with the wedding party and is described as being “like a bridesmaid.” Reagan was 21 and pregnant with her second child, a girl she named Braxlynn, when Taylor murdered her in a seemingly desperate attempt to maintain a long, complicated ruse.

Again, Dimmock doesn’t attempt to psychoanalyze Taylor. The film never uses the term “mental illness,” not even once. Rather, the film presents facts and testimonies that add up to a bizarre and deeply tragic gaslighting saga involving arson, bomb threats, and elaborate deception. They all come with a clear expiration date: What would Taylor do when the baby is due? Maternal Instinct drops a subhead, “All internet searches are based on court evidence,” which is followed by reenactments of someone searching for fake ultrasound printouts and pregnant-belly prosthetics.  

A large piece of the film details how Wade’s friends and family tried to present the truth about Taylor to him, which he pushed back against. Something he admits with a tone of shame and embarrassment of someone who can’t understand how he believed so many lies. The final stretch is devoted primarily to commentary by Reagan’s family as they navigate life without their beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece; they deserve the final word, and they get it. The film addresses how a combination of manipulation and silence can have awful results, whether it’s friends and family afraid of meddling in Wade’s personal life, or doctors legally bound by HIPAA laws preventing them from divulging crucial information. In the spirit of responsible journalism, Maternal Instinct avoids conjecture and simply presents a portrait of a tragedy that destroyed a family and shattered a community that continues to struggle with residual guilt.

Our Call: Maternal Instinct is one of the stronger true crime docs in the Netflix stable. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.