MS - Lauren Johansen, 22, body found ‘mutilated,’ wrapped in sheets at cemetery, Harrison County, 2 July 2024 *Arrest*

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Knox said:
It's a sad twisted story. Lauren was only 22, unfortunately - she wasn't given the time to learn how to break free of this monster. Her death is doubly tragic because of the mistakes made - specifically I'm pointing at the judge who allowed him to make bail and his Mother who posted it. The monitoring bracelet error was bad, but I don't think he would have complied with those terms anyway - so IMO it was a moot point.

It's simple, if he were still sitting in jail, Lauren would be alive. If he had been prosecuted and sentenced to prison - it's highly likely she would freed herself from him.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I personally don't hold a lot of belief in the power of ankle monitors--we've seen so many cases where it turns out that no one is actually monitoring them to make sure conditions are adhered to.

It's horrifying that if what the reporter Levi Ismail says is right/if I'm understanding him correctly, that someone at Freedom Monitoring actual spoke to Lauren when Brice came in to get the new bracelet. By the 29th, Freedom KNEW the exact conditions of bail if they are claiming they had the parameters on the 28th and set them. Not only were they then fully aware when he came in on the 29th that he had violated his restrictions by leaving the county--for which they should have called police--but if they spoke with/saw Lauren theyknew he was breaking the no contact part of his order--and DEFINITELY should have called the police immediately for that.

But I think we all can think of one big reason that they didn't---because then they would have to admit to the police/court that they had screwed up big time. And they were all about CYA--both for themselves and their parent bond company.
 
gremlin444 said:
Exactly.

I personally don't hold a lot of belief in the power of ankle monitors--we've seen so many cases where it turns out that no one is actually monitoring them to make sure conditions are adhered to.

It's horrifying that if what the reporter Levi Ismail says is right/if I'm understanding him correctly, that someone at Freedom Monitoring actual spoke to Lauren when Brice came in to get the new bracelet. By the 29th, Freedom KNEW the exact conditions of bail if they are claiming they had the parameters on the 28th and set them. Not only were they then fully aware when he came in on the 29th that he had violated his restrictions by leaving the county--for which they should have called police--but if they spoke with/saw Lauren theyknew he was breaking the no contact part of his order--and DEFINITELY should have called the police immediately for that.

But I think we all can think of one big reason that they didn't---because then they would have to admit to the police/court that they had screwed up big time. And they were all about CYA--both for themselves and their parent bond company.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I didn’t realize that was the case last night when I wrote that.

I know this happens with victims of domestic violence. But it’s so difficult to comprehend from the outside looking in. Now I’m wondering if Lauren’s family knew she picked him up, at least her sister who she lived with. Did her Dad know, or at least suspect, they were together? I can’t imagine how difficult this was for her family. You can’t protect someone in this type of DV cycle.
 
Knox said:
Thank you, I didn’t realize that was the case last night when I wrote that.

I know this happens with victims of domestic violence. But it’s so difficult to comprehend from the outside looking in. Now I’m wondering if Lauren’s family knew she picked him up, at least her sister who she lived with. Did her Dad know, or at least suspect, they were together? I can’t imagine how difficult this was for her family. You can’t protect someone in this type of DV cycle.
Click to expand...

Yes, his words are along the lines of "remember, we were told by the bonding company that this is Lauren's car, and Nakeda [the owner of Freedom Monitoring] says they met."

I'm sure Nakeda will claim she had no idea who Lauren was when she met her and that she had no way to know who she was. I wonder if Lauren was hoping that Nakeda would realize and call the cops.

Personally, I gotta say I am amazed at the nerve it took for Bricen to go to the ankle monitoring place in the car of the person he has the bracelet on to keep him from going near.....with that person IN THE CAR. But then again, given the breaks he's been given over and over and his sheer dumb luck at the incompetency of the system, I guess he felt pretty fearless.

IMHO--Lauren's dad did not know and hoped like heck that Lauren was finally free of the guy. From listening to his interviews, I think he would have called the court/police in Nashville himself in an instant if he had any inkling that Bricen had contacted Lauren. From looking at the pictures, Lauren's sister looks so much younger than her--I feel that if the sister knew, she was pressured by Lauren not to tell Dad.
 
NASHVILLE (Scripps News Nashville/Court TV) — A six-panel judge has scheduled an evidentiary hearing after a man allegedly murdered his girlfriend while out on bond.
[snip]
Now, a six-panel judge has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Aug. 15, where representatives from Brooke’s Bail Bonding and On Time Bonding are expected to give testimony.

The courts are also requesting receipts, documents, emails and photographic evidence of what these companies knew before Rivers left for Mississippi.

Depending on the panel’s decision, each of these companies could be suspended or denied the ability to write bonds in Davidson County.

That’s not taking into consideration any possible criminal liability these companies may face.
Hearing ordered after man released on bond allegedly murders girlfriend
 
Knox said:
Thank you, I didn’t realize that was the case last night when I wrote that.

I know this happens with victims of domestic violence. But it’s so difficult to comprehend from the outside looking in. Now I’m wondering if Lauren’s family knew she picked him up, at least her sister who she lived with. Did her Dad know, or at least suspect, they were together? I can’t imagine how difficult this was for her family. You can’t protect someone in this type of DV cycle.
Click to expand...
This is one reason why DV may not seem to be taken seriously. I mean, why should a cop waste their time arresting (usually) him, because they know darned well that (usually) she's just going to bail him out first thing in the morning? A restraining order is also not going to do any good if she calls him up and tells him where she's living.
 
Updates:

www.wdam.com

“I can’t explain to you the beating that this man did to my daughter,” Lauren Johansen's father speaks out after Bricen Rivers is denied bond

Boyfriend charged in Forrest County with murder denied bond
www.wdam.com www.wdam.com

Denied bond for the murder charges.

Unbelievable bit:
"When Judge Gay Polk-Payton asked if he was out on bond at the time of the murder, Rivers replied, 'No, not to my knowledge.' ”

DUDE--you literally had two bond companies cover your bond. A bond company representative is who picked you up from prison and took you to the ankle monitor company. Are you that stupid, have no clue what the word bond means, or are you just a compulsive liar??

www.newschannel5.com

Mississippi judge denies Bricen Rivers bond for murder of ex-girlfriend Lauren Johansen

Bricen Rivers will remain in jail following Friday’s hearing where a Mississippi judge denied bond on his first-degree murder charge.
www.newschannel5.com www.newschannel5.com

It is believed that Lauren was killed near her home before her car and body were taken to Harrison County.

His next hearing is August 15th.


According to prosecutors, Rivers tried to clean the car to hide evidence.

"Sheriff Charlie Sims said investigators are looking for surveillance video along South 11th and South 10th Avenue in Hattiesburg, as well as the Highway 42 bypass into Petal."
 
That was a little confusing. So now Rivers is appearing in court in Mississippi. I guess he thought he could lie about being out on bond from Tennessee and the MS courts wouldn’t know. Lying has worked for him in the past, so he tried it again.

It’s a sad day in America when the Father of a murdered DV victim with the circumstances in this case- expresses gratitude that the killer will not be allowed to make bail.

Is that irony shocking to anyone else?
 
Knox said:
That was a little confusing. So now Rivers is appearing in court in Mississippi. I guess he thought he could lie about being out on bond from Tennessee and the MS courts wouldn’t know. Lying has worked for him in the past, so he tried it again.
Click to expand...

I guess he thought that maybe Tennessee's system would continue to be dysfunctional and not send his info over to MS in a prompt fashion?
 
www.newschannel5.com

She held multiple jobs while monitoring GPS device of man now charged with murder

NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned that the woman responsible for installing and monitoring Bricen Rivers’ GPS device was managing three other jobs, including a full-time day job with the State.
www.newschannel5.com www.newschannel5.com

AUGH:

"...the woman responsible for installing and monitoring Bricen Rivers’ GPS device was juggling three other jobs, including a full-time day job with the state....

NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned that the woman responsible for installing and monitoring Bricen Rivers’ GPS device was managing three other jobs, including a full-time day job with the State...DCS requires employees to ask permission to work any secondary jobs, but Wilhoite didn't do that until 2023 when she told DCS she would only be answering phones on the weekends for a bonding company.
 
www.newschannel5.com

Judges hear from bonding companies on Bricen Rivers case after GPS tracking miss

Judges heard from bail bonding companies on Thursday after Bricen Rivers bonded out of jail in Nashville and became the primary suspect in his ex-girlfriend's death in Mississippi.
www.newschannel5.com www.newschannel5.com

She claims she thought she had to have a warrant to take him to jail when he showed up to get the new ankle monitor and she knew he had violated the terms of his parole in a big way????

M'am....you don't have to literally stick him in your car and drive him back to prison yourself. You can, oh....I don't know....CALL THE POLICE AND CALL THE COURT (call the cops first in case he drives off).

It terrifies me that she was working as a case manager for the TN Dept of Child Services. Because this really doesn't give me any faith in her ability to take action when it is needed. Guess it's a good thing she just recently resigned from DCS....after DCS opened an internal investigation into all her other jobs (from the news article two posts up).

This case just really really gets me.
 
gremlin444 said:
www.newschannel5.com

Judges hear from bonding companies on Bricen Rivers case after GPS tracking miss

Judges heard from bail bonding companies on Thursday after Bricen Rivers bonded out of jail in Nashville and became the primary suspect in his ex-girlfriend's death in Mississippi.
www.newschannel5.com www.newschannel5.com

She claims she thought she had to have a warrant to take him to jail when he showed up to get the new ankle monitor and she knew he had violated the terms of his parole in a big way????

M'am....you don't have to literally stick him in your car and drive him back to prison yourself. You can, oh....I don't know....CALL THE POLICE AND CALL THE COURT (call the cops first in case he drives off).

It terrifies me that she was working as a case manager for the TN Dept of Child Services. Because this really doesn't give me any faith in her ability to take action when it is needed. Guess it's a good thing she just recently resigned from DCS....after DCS opened an internal investigation into all her other jobs (from the news article two posts up).

This case just really really gets me.
Click to expand...
Oh FFS you have got to be kidding me?!!! This whole case is one mistake after another. But it all started with JUDGE BLACKBURN.

If the judicial panel doesn’t revoke these companies ability to write bonds, it would be insane.
 
So, Bricen had a preliminary hearing this morning. His defense team requested to have a bond set for his charge of first-degree murder--the nerve of that man/his defense team. The judge denied.

New timeline details:
July 1/2: Bricen tries contacting Lauren via text message and phone more than 120 times, but she never responded.
July 2: camera footage showed that Rivers was reportedly dropped off close to the location Lauren's house in the early morning hours (please tell me it wasn't his mom...please tell me it was something like Uber)

Now this gets confusing: there was Lauren's sister and a male friend in the house. LE says the friend said that Lauren was alive between 4-6 a.m. Lauren's neighbor's surveillance camera shows Bricen walking toward the house fully closed--but at 5 am it shows him leaving the house without a shirt, then walking back towards the house. The police are trying to get cloud footage from Lauren's home surveillance camera that Bricen broke.

Shortly after Bricen goes back, the footage showed him backing out of her driveway in her car and leaving...but comes back within 10 min to get an item and leaves again. His ankle monitor info (gee, good to see it got used for something!), showed he went to a Petal River Park after he left her house with her car and stopped there for 32 min. Cadaver dogs alerted there at the park after they found vehicle carpet fibers there.

He called his brother while he was hiding in the woods from the police and told him that he had killed "the *advertiser censored*." :(

There is argument by the defense team about where Lauren was killed. They say there no proof of life can be made either before or after Rivers left Forrest County to prove that she was killed there and not in Harrison County where her body was found.

Prosecutors stated they wanted to upgrade charges: including one to capital murder. That introduces the possibility of the death penalty.

The judge moved all three of Rivers’ charges (first-degree murder, grand larceny auto, and evidence tampering) to be dealt with by a grand jury. The grand jury will determine whether the case will go to trial.

www.wdam.com

‘I killed the b--:’ Preliminary hearing for Bricen Rivers reveals details into Lauren Johansen murder investigation

Forrest County Sheriff’s Office Lt. David Benoit was on the witness stand to testify how law enforcement is handling the investigation.
www.wdam.com www.wdam.com
 
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