Women Who Would Literally Kill to Have a Child
This month, a pair of news stories highlighted the sick, twisted crime of fetal abduction. That’s the technical term for a killer attacking a pregnant mom-to-be and attempting to steal the baby.
Although vanishingly rare, the shocking crime is so horrible that it makes national news. Between 1983 and 2015, only 18 cases have been recorded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Tragically, 21-year-old Reagan Hancock can be added to that list. Her body was found outside her Texas home on October 9th. Her killer was caught in Oklahoma with Reagan’s daughter. Tragically, both mother and child died. Reagan planned to name the baby Braxlynn Sage.
According to a crowdfunding campaign for Reagan’s husband and three-year-old daughter, the killer was a friend of hers. “Reagan Hancock and her unborn baby were selfishly killed by someone Reagan considered a friend,” the description on the special PayPal account announced. “We are trying to raise money for Homer and their daughter. Let’s rally together and raise enough money to take any stress off him for any and all expenses that will occur.”
The suspect, Taylor Parker, was taken into custody in Oklahoma after being pulled over for speeding. She initially claimed to have given birth on the side of the road, but when she was rushed to a nearby hospital, it became clear that her story didn’t hold up. Baby Braxlynn died at the hospital, and Parker was ultimately charged with two counts of murder as well as kidnapping.
While it will likely be a long time before Parker is sentenced, a similar case in Missouri will end with an execution.
In 2004, Bobbie Jo Stinnett was eight months pregnant. She and her husband were dog breeders, and Bobbie Jo struck up a friendship with a woman online over their shared love of rat terriers.
Using an assumed name, Lisa Montgomery claimed to be interested in buying a dog from Bobbie Jo. She also claimed to be pregnant too, giving the women something else to bond over.
When Montgomery arrived at the Stinnett household, purportedly to look at a dog, she instead strangled Bobbie Jo and stole her baby. Although the mother died on site, the baby survived. Thanks in part to the AMBER alert system, which police were able to find Montgomery and get the baby girl back to her family.
Lisa Montgomery’s lawyers claimed she had pseudocyesis–the medical term for someone who believes they are pregnant. The jury didn’t buy it, however, and she was sentenced to death in 2007. The date for her execution has just now been confirmed, following several appeals.
Montgomery is scheduled to die by lethal injection on December 8th. Assuming that nothing changes, she’ll be the first woman to be executed in the US justice system in more than 60 years.