A Texan woman who cut the baby out of a pregnant woman two years ago to claim it as her own faces the death penalty.
A jury in northeastern Bowie County on Monday found Taylor Rene Parker guilty of stabbing 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock at least 100 times before cutting open her abdomen with a scalpel.
As coroners later determined, the pregnant woman was still alive when Parker used the scalpel.
According to the defense, 29-year-old Parker was unable to bear children of her own after having her uterus removed.
For fear of losing her partner, she faked a pregnancy for almost ten months.
During the three-week trial, the defense repeatedly denied that the child, who later died, survived the violent cutting open of the abdomen.
Had he still been born, Parker would have avoided a kidnapping conviction, which in turn would have mitigated the murder conviction.
However, coroners confirmed that the girl survived the cutting open of her mother's stomach.
The jury deliberated for just an hour Monday before finding Parker guilty.
During the trial, the prosecution had documented how Parker meticulously planned the crime, posted about her alleged pregnancy on social media, falsified ultrasound scans and smashed Simmons-Hancock's skull in with a hammer before stabbing the pregnant woman in excruciating pain with a scalpel inflicted.
After the guilty verdict, prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty for Parker ahead of his scheduled sentencing in the coming weeks.