NEW BOSTON, Texas — A 27-year-old woman has been arrested, accused of killing a pregnant Texas woman and cutting her unborn child out of her womb.
Taylor Rene Parker was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping following the death of Reagan Hancock last week in New Boston, according to multiple reports.
New Boston Police were called about a deceased person just after 10 a.m. Friday.
Hancock was eight and a half months pregnant, expecting a baby girl this November, said her mother, Jessica, who requested to be referred to by her first name only.
She was due Nov. 10, although she “started seeing signs that she was so close to having her,” her mother told Fox News exclusively on Monday.
Police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the unborn child had been removed from her body. Hancock’s mother found her after she was killed.
“We just want our beautiful baby remembered and known for the amazing person she was and for people to see she did not deserve this,” her mother said.
According to a Daily Mail report, Parker drove off with the child and was stopped on the side of the road in De Kalb, Texas, where she told police she had just given birth.
Parker and the child were then taken to McCurtain Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma where the baby died. After Hancock was found, Parker was arrested by Oklahoma authorities.
Texas Rangers are now investigating the case, New Boston police said.
Earlier this summer, Hancock, already a mother to a 3-year-old named Kynlee, announced on Facebook she was expecting a “sweet babygirl” named Braxlynn Sage this November.
A PayPal fundraiser said, “Reagan Hancock and her unborn baby were selfishly killed by someone Reagan considered a friend.”
Meanwhile, the town has been rallying behind the family.
The two online fundraisers that have circulated on social media have collectively raised over $20,000 in a matter of days following her death, according to Sarah Whitehead, who started one of the fundraisers with her husband, Justin.
Whitehead told Fox News that Homer, Reagan’s husband, was the backbone of their small lawn business.
“Our community is a small town but at the end of the day we are all one community,” she said. “Reagan and the baby, Kynlee, and Homer and the rest of the family will now be taken care of by everyone here.”
The three of them have “become part of everyone’s family now,” she added.
In addition to the Whiteheads’ fundraiser of more than $12,000, another fundraiser started by Allen Martin and Janet Harland Ross has since received over $13,000 in funds.
“Thank you all so much for showing that there is still good in the world,” Jessica said. She added that she is touched by the way everyone has “come together to love, pray for, and support” the family.
