The #3 Movie on Netflix Tells a Terrifying True-Crime Story About a Shocking Pregnancy Secret

At first, one of Netflix's most popular documentaries sounds like a Southern fairy tale: A woman named Taylor Parker moves to East Texas and soon falls in love with a hog trapper at a local rodeo. Not long after, she shares she's pregnant, and they begin planning their future together, including putting an offer on a ranch in Oklahoma.

But as Parker's due date approaches, things don't quite add up, and friends and family (boyfriend included) start having questions. Her September 22 due date came and went, and questions turned to doubts.

Weeks later, on October 9, 2020, things take a shocking turn—Parker calls 911, claiming she'd given birth off the highway and the baby wasn't breathing. She said she'd been on her way to meet her husband at a hospital in Idabel, Oklahoma. But, as officials would soon learn, the baby wasn't hers—nor was the blood all over her body.

This is Maternal Instinct, the documentary following the youngest woman on death row in Texas. Using a mix of interviews, videos and body cam footage, it details how Parker's pregnancy claims led to a murder conviction that devastated the entire community.

When doctors examined Parker and confirmed she had not had a baby, as her friends and family had suspected, their attention pivoted: Then where did this baby come from?

The film is primarily told through those who knew Parker. "I never got a sense from any of our reporting that she acknowledges what she did, that she’s remorseful, or that she can be truthful about it," Director Jessica Dimmock told Netflix's Tudum. "To give her any extra time to spin and lie just did not feel like the film I wanted to make. I wanted to hear from all of the people whose lives she damaged and broke forever, and not give her any more room to talk."

She added: "As part of our legal obligation and due diligence, we did reach out through her lawyers shortly before the film was released, and they declined to comment."

Parker continues to pursue her appeals as she sits on death row.