WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the death‑penalty appeal of an Arkansas woman convicted in one of the state’s most shocking crimes — the 2015 fetal‑abduction murder of expectant mother Savanna Leckie.
The high court’s decision, announced Monday, leaves in place the death sentence for Taylor Parker, who was convicted in Bowie County, Texas, of capital murder after prosecutors said she killed Reagan Hancock, 21, and cut her unborn child from her womb in a desperate attempt to pass the baby off as her own.
Parker’s attorneys argued that her trial was tainted by prejudicial evidence and that her mental‑health history should have been more fully considered. The Supreme Court denied the petition without comment, effectively exhausting her direct appeals.
The case drew national attention for its brutality and cross‑state investigation. Hancock was found dead in her New Boston, Texas, home in October 2020. Parker was arrested later that day in Idabel, Oklahoma, after claiming she had given birth. The infant did not survive.
Parker remains on death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. Bowie County District Attorney Lauren Richards said the Supreme Court’s decision “brings closure to a case that devastated two families and shocked our community.”
Legal experts note that Parker may still pursue post‑conviction relief through federal habeas proceedings, but such challenges rarely succeed.
