[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A Mississippi woman’s father begged a judge not to release her allegedly abusive ex-boyfriend from prison, fearing he would “kill her” once out. However, that judge did not listen to the warning. Now, days after his release, she was found dead.
Back in December 2023, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said Bricen Rivers was on vacation with 22-year-old Lauren Johansen in Nashville when “she called [her family] screaming, afraid that her boyfriend may kill her.” He allegedly attacked her and held her hostage, beating her so badly at one point that she almost lost consciousness. OMG. Her family quickly contacted the local authorities and when cops arrived at the scene, they “could hear the victim banging on the vehicle as she tried to escape the attack.” The police said Lauren was “able to get out [of] the car upon officer’s arrival.”
Rivers was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and interfering with an emergency call. Her father, Lance Johansen, warned a judge he would harm her if let out of prison at any point. He told WLOX:
“I sat in the courtroom in Nashville and told the judge that if they let him out, he was going to kill her. He had assaulted her — this was probably the fifth or sixth time where they would get into a fight and he would beat her. We would get her away from him for a while, but he would find a way to weasel back in it.”
The judge sadly did not heed his warning. According to WLOX, Rivers’ bond was originally set to $250,000. But after sitting in jail for seven months, it was reduced to $150,000. The ex-boyfriend’s defense attorney made an agreement with the Johansen family, saying they would be contacted if any changes were made to his status and give him a GPS ankle monitor. That never happened, though. Lance told the outlet they just let Rivers out of prison without ever informing them:
“They let him out and didn’t tell us, and didn’t put the ankle monitor on him. They just let him walk out of jail.”
What the f**k. It wasn’t until the following Monday, July 1, that he received a voicemail from the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office telling him Rivers was released and wasn’t being tracked. The voicemail said:
“This is Bailey calling from the district attorney’s office in Nashville. Bricen Rivers was released from custody. He was supposed to report straight to a GPS company and be put on a GPS monitor and he was not to leave Davidson County. But as soon as he was released, he did not report to that GPS monitoring company, and he has not been heard from. I wanted to make sure Lauren is safe.”
Sadly, she wasn’t. Lance said he immediately called his daughter. However, Lauren never answered. When she texted him afterward, Lance noted it “didn’t really look like the way she talks.” But he didn’t push the issue. The following day, he woke up around 4 a.m. to a notification that her Life360 Tracker was turned off. He also got a call from his youngest daughter who was living with Lauren at the time that she was not home, the front door was open, and their security camera was destroyed.
Knowing something was wrong, the family filed a missing person report with the Hattiesburg Police Department. Police eventually tracked Lauren’s car through OnStar on Thursday, locating it at a cemetery in Gulfport. Upon arrival, they found her body mutilated and wrapped in a sheet. Lance recalled the moment the authorities contacted him:
“I knew she was dead. When we got there, her car was in the middle of the cemetery and she was in the back of the car wrapped up in sheets and trash bags. She was basically beaten to death. Her face was smashed in, her head was smashed in, she was brutally beaten to the point she couldn’t see out of either eye when she finally died and there was multiple holes in her head. I helped the coroner lift her body out of the car. It was just mutilated.”
Jeez. Police also encountered Rivers running from the car into the woods in the area when they arrived at the scene. Several hours later, they managed to find him and arrested him. He was booked into the Harrison County jail on a murder charge and being held on a $1 million bond.
This poor, poor girl. The justice system completely failed Lauren in protecting her. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Lauren Johansen/Facebook, Harrison County Sheriff’s Department]
