NEW BOSTON, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) – The widower of the pregnant woman killed by Taylor Parker and the father of the unborn baby Parker cut from her womb has filed a civil suit against both Parker and her ex-boyfriend, Wade Griffin.

On Oct. 3, a Bowie County jury convicted Parker of Capital Murder in the death of Reagan Hancock and the kidnapping of her infant daughter. Griffin was not charged in connection with the murder or kidnapping and testified at trial that he did not know Parker was faking her pregnancy.

Homer Hancock filed the negligence and wrongful death suit Thursday. Griffin was served with the suit on Friday. Parker, in custody at the Bi-State Detention Center, was served Monday.

The suit claims Parker was negligent for driving recklessly and erratically with baby Braxlynn Sage Hancock in Griffin’s car after cutting the baby from Reagan Hancock’s body on the morning of her murder, causing the infant’s death.

The Texas DPS trooper who pulled Parker over that morning for speeding and driving recklessly along US 82 in De Kalb found the unresponsive baby in Parker’s lap.

“On or about October 9, 2020, Defendant Parker, drove to Plaintiff’s home in New Boston, Texas in Defendant Griffin’s 2009 Toyota Corolla vehicle, killed Plaintiff’s wife, Reagan Simmons Hancock, and cut Baby Hancock from Reagan’s body. Defendant Parker then took Baby Hancock, who the jury in Bowie County has determined was still alive and fled the scene in Defendant Griffin’s vehicle toward Oklahoma. Defendant Parker was eventually stopped for speeding and driving erratically by a Texas State Trooper who, upon approaching the vehicle, reportedly observed Baby Hancock on Defendant Parker’s lap. Baby Hancock was later pronounced dead. The vehicle driven by Defendant Parker at all times during the occurrences above was registered to Defendant Parker’s boyfriend, Defendant Griffin.”

The exact cause of the baby’s death was not addressed during the first phase of the trial, in which Parker was found guilty of capital murder and kidnapping, but the prosecution brought witnesses who testified that the baby had a heartbeat after she was cut from Hancock’s body, only to later die at the hospital. Testimony and evidence about the baby’s autopsy and cause of death are expected to be presented during the punishment phase set to get underway on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have said they are seeking the death penalty due to the heinous and pre-meditated nature of the crime and because Parker showed no remorse. 

The civil suit asserts that the baby’s injuries were caused as a result of Parker’s “negligent, careless, and reckless disregard” of her “duty to exercise the degree of care that a reasonably careful person would use to avoid harm to others under circumstances like those described herein.”

That included failing to keep a proper lookout for the baby’s safety, failure to stay in the proper lane, control her speed and control the vehicle.

The suit also claims Griffin was negligent for allowing Parker to use his vehicle because he knew her to be a liar and unstable and that he “knew, or through the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that Defendant Parker was a reckless and incompetent driver prior to permitting her to operate his vehicle.”

The petition asks for unspecified damages for actual expenses as well as pain and mental anguish, among other things, due to the gross negligence alleged against both Parker and Griffin.