Where Are Taylor Parker’s Kids Now? Inside Their Lives After She Faked Her Pregnancy and Killed a Friend to Kidnap Her Unborn Baby

Taylor Parker was already a mother to two children when she faked being pregnant with a third.

Parker became a mother when she was 17 years old, welcoming daughter Emersyn with then-boyfriend Donald Whiteside, according to court documents. After they split, Parker married Tommy Wacasey, and they welcomed her second child, son Trey, when she was 21 years old.

However, after Trey’s complicated birth, Parker decided to undergo a tubal ligation, which would prevent her from having children in the future. A little over a year later, she suffered an ectopic pregnancy (doctors also found an ovarian cyst and endometriosis scarring during an exploratory surgery) and while she was anesthetized, a doctor performed a hysterectomy, removing her uterus. According to court docs, Wacasey approved of the procedure. He and Parker divorced in 2017.

By the summer of 2019, after a marriage and divorce with Hunter Parker, the mom of two started dating local hog trapper Wade Griffin. She moved into his home just a few months later, and in January 2020, Parker told Griffin that she was pregnant with their child. Over the next 10 months, several of Griffin’s family members expressed doubts over the legitimacy of Parker’s pregnancy, especially by October when she still hadn’t given birth.

Nearly two weeks after her due date passed, Parker became desperate to keep her lies going. She drove to see her friend Reagan Simmons-Hancock — who was 35 weeks pregnant with her second child — and upon entering her home, Parker brutally murdered Reagan. Parker then cut out Reagan’s unborn baby and kidnapped her.

Parker was arrested and charged with capital murder, murder and kidnapping after doctors determined that she had not given birth to the baby, who died after being kidnapped. Parker was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in November 2022. Several people spoke about the tragedy in the Netflix documentary Maternal Instinct, which hit the streamer on June 12.

Here’s everything to know about Taylor Parker’s children, Emersyn and Trey, and where they are now.

Who are Taylor Parker’s children?

Parker became pregnant with her first child shortly after turning 17 years old, her mother, Shona Prior, said in court, per KTAL News. In the fall of 2009, she welcomed daughter Emersyn.

She had her daughter with Donald, but Prior testified that he wasn’t involved in Emersyn’s life and that she had only met him once.

Donald’s aunt, Jennifer Whiteside, testified that Parker and Donald’s relationship was short-lived and that he hadn’t seen his daughter, according to KTAL News.

Shortly afterward, Parker moved on with another man, Wacasey, whom she later married. They welcomed their first child together, son Trey, when she was 21 years old.

Prior testified that Parker’s daughter only knew of Wacasey as her father. Parker and Wacasey divorced in 2017.

How was Parker described as a mother?

While Parker mostly kept her children’s lives private during the trial, Prior claimed that they had a close relationship.

“They love her,” Prior said when asked about how the kids felt about Parker, per KTAL News.

Parker’s defense attorney, Jeff Harrelson, also showed several photos of the family to the court and played jail calls between Taylor and her children.

First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp played another jail call between Parker and her daughter in which Parker told Emersyn to not talk to people about why she was in jail.

“You explained to me that you didn’t think (Taylor’s daughter) knew about the crime,” Crisp asked Prior, to which she replied, “She does not know the horrific details. She knows that two people have died at the hands of her mother.”

Parker’s brother, Zachary Morton, also took the stand and testified that Parker was mostly a “good mother” — except for “when she was chasing another man.”

“I would say when she was chasin’ Wade would be the most recent,” he said, per the outlet. “She didn’t necessarily give enough attention to [her daughter] at that time.”

Where were Parker’s children when she faked her pregnancy?

Both of Parker’s children were still young when she lied about being pregnant from January through October 2020.

Griffin’s mother, Connie, testified that when her son met Parker, she had custody of Emersyn but not Trey, per WLNS. Around the time she started lying about being pregnant, according to KTAL, Parker asked Wacasey to take custody of Emersyn.

In the midst of Parker’s pregnancy hoax, Prior testified that she told Parker’s children that she was not actually pregnant.

Prior claimed she told the kids that their mother “did not have the parts that were required for pregnancy.”

However, both Emersyn and Trey were present for the gender reveal where a calf wore a pink bow and seemingly revealed that Parker was expecting a baby girl.

Where are Taylor Parker’s children now?

After Parker was arrested in 2022, her daughter was temporarily staying at the Wacaseys. Prior picked Emersyn up and subsequently filed for custody, which she was granted, per Oxygen.

Prior further testified that Emersyn continued to see Wacasey and his family. In order to help Emersyn, who was 12 years old at the time of Parker’s November 2022 sentencing, process everything, Prior sought advice from a counselor.

Meanwhile, Prior denied having any sort of “custody battle” over Trey with Wacasey. Parker had allegedly not fought for custody of Trey when she and Wacasey divorced, per KTAL.

Griffin’s mom, Connie, recalled during her testimony that Parker alleged to her that she didn’t have custody of Trey because of past medical conditions. However, other testimonies contradicted that claim and stated that Wacasey had custody of Trey following their 2017 divorce.