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

[imstilla.grandma]

“I sat in the courtroom in Nashville and told the judge that if they let him out, he was going to kill her,” the slain student’s father, Lance Johansen, told WLOX. “He had assaulted her — this was probably the fifth or sixth time where they would get into a fight and he would beat her.”

Nursing student, 22, found beaten to death, days after judge released maniac boyfriend who ‘hit her 100 times’ during December ‘kidnap’ incident: dad

A 22-year-old college student from Mississippi was found beaten to death and wrapped in a sheet in the backseat of her car last week — days after her father warned a judge that if her boyfriend was…

nypost.com

 

[gremlin444]

I'm following reporter Karen Aguilar of Fox Nashville on Twitter/X--she seems to be taking the lead in investigating the mistakes:

Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk's Office admits mistake that led to woman's death

The Chief Deputy at Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk's office admitted there was a mistake that allowed a suspect to cross county lines into Mississippi.

fox17.com

 

[Knox]

I'm following reporter Karen Aguilar of Fox Nashville on Twitter/X--she seems to be taking the lead in investigating the mistakes:

Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk's Office admits mistake that led to woman's death

The Chief Deputy at Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk's office admitted there was a mistake that allowed a suspect to cross county lines into Mississippi.

fox17.com

She’s doing a great job reporting, grateful she’s exposing how this went so wrong. This monumental mistake resulted in a violent death. The details are very painful to read, I feel deeply for her family.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“They’re distraught,” Sloss said of the employee who made the error and his supervisor. “There have been tears.”

Release paperwork dated June 24 specified none of those conditions.

That paperwork “should have contained any bond conditions,” Sloss said. “The employee did not do that.”

“Our release order from the courts was a standard ‘bond-out’ and did not specify GPS was a condition of release,” said Jon Adams, communications director at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office. Rivers, Adams said, “was released to himself, and was responsible for contacting his bonding agent.”

https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article289975014.html

 

[Quim The Extraordinaire]

I’m so angry this happened. And that it’s only a recent occurrence, definitely not the first and likely not even the most recent.

Dr. Johansen, PLEASE keep raising hell and demanding accountability for your daughter’s life. I’m so sorry for your loss. Maybe your actions today will prevent future loss of life.

For a person as kind-hearted and caring as Lauren is said to have been — and family members that seem to share that outlook — perhaps that provides a sliver of comfort in this tragedy.

Rest in peace, Lauren. You matter.

 

[gremlin444]

Additional/slightly different information in this article from today in a conversation with Lauren's father:

How Mississippi man's release from Nashville jail ended in Lauren Johansen's death. ‘Someone in our office made a mistake’

A Mississippi father is blaming Nashville’s justice system for his daughter’s death earlier this month, days after her ex-boyfriend, Bricen John Rivers, was released from a Middle Tennessee jail.

www.clarionledger.com

"Although he received the voicemail notifying him of Rivers' release on June 28, Robert Johansen didn't have a chance to listen to it right away, he said, noting that the news came as a shock on July 1.

'I called Lauren immediately and she was still alive when I called her and told her ... she already heard,' he said. 'She was told he was getting an ankle monitor, and it turned into a real mess.'

Lauren was terrified when he talked to her about Rivers being released, Robert Johansen said. He and his family don't know what happened to Lauren Johansen or how she ended up in the trunk of a car on July 3.

Last they knew, she was in her home with her sister and a friend on July 1."
*****

All the other previous articles I've read made it sound like Lauren did not know Rivers was released, and that when the dad tried calling her on July 1 he couldn't get in touch with her--except for a text he got from her which was phrased oddly.

 

[Knox]

Additional/slightly different information in this article from today in a conversation with Lauren's father:

How Mississippi man's release from Nashville jail ended in Lauren Johansen's death. ‘Someone in our office made a mistake’

A Mississippi father is blaming Nashville’s justice system for his daughter’s death earlier this month, days after her ex-boyfriend, Bricen John Rivers, was released from a Middle Tennessee jail.

www.clarionledger.com

"Although he received the voicemail notifying him of Rivers' release on June 28, Robert Johansen didn't have a chance to listen to it right away, he said, noting that the news came as a shock on July 1.

'I called Lauren immediately and she was still alive when I called her and told her ... she already heard,' he said. 'She was told he was getting an ankle monitor, and it turned into a real mess.'

Lauren was terrified when he talked to her about Rivers being released, Robert Johansen said. He and his family don't know what happened to Lauren Johansen or how she ended up in the trunk of a car on July 3.

Last they knew, she was in her home with her sister and a friend on July 1."
*****

All the other previous articles I've read made it sound like Lauren did not know Rivers was released, and that when the dad tried calling her on July 1 he couldn't get in touch with her--except for a text he got from her which was phrased oddly.

I still feel like we’re missing details. I want to see a complete timeline of the 24 hours before and after Lauren died.

If she was home with her sister and a friend on July 1, at what point did he abduct her? The security camera at their front door was destroyed. Was that on the way into the home? I would think everyone in that house would have been on high alert, knowing he had been released? She should have went into hiding at that point.

 

[Snoopster]

Yet another avoidable death of a woman at the hands of a violent man that she knows.
It's an old and tired story at the point.
My heart bleeds for Lauren's family, friends and community. They didn't deserve this.

 

[Snoopster]

fyi, I've asked mods to add date/location/name to title of this thread.

 

[gremlin444]

Reporters were allowed to listen to the recording Lauren made of her being beaten back in Dec and see her hospital photos.

Nashville judge releases man accused of beating, murder - Nashville Banner

Audio recording reveals brutal assault by Bricen Rivers on Lauren Johansen. Rivers charged with murder after Johansen's body found in Mississippi.

nashvillebanner.com

"Rivers can also be heard describing her condition, saying at one point that she looks like she’s “hemorrhaging tonight” and later telling her that her “head’s swollen up like a bowling ball.” He also makes it clear that this assault was not the first. "

Graphic recordings reveal beating before a Nashville suspect allegedly killed his girlfriend

These recordings came from the Rivers vs. Johansen case file in the Davidson County Criminal Court. This is the first time these materials have been made public since we have followed the case.

www.newschannel5.com

"I suggest you cooperate and calm down. I literally scheduled marriage counseling for us. Do you realize that?" Rivers told Johansen to the noises of her trying to breathe. "Bite me , I dare you."

He literally told her if she moved, she wouldn't wake up tomorrow.
Hospital photos Lauren showed her hair stained with dried blood, lips bruised and battered, and one eye swollen shut while the other was barely able to open.

Days after the incident, he called her from jail (recorded) and told her what to say to investigators. He told her to tell them that he wanted to join the military and any charges would ruin his chances.

AND THE JUDGE LISTENED TO THESE RIGHT BEFORE SHE MADE THE DECISION TO LOWER HIS BAIL.

 

[gremlin444]

The Daily Mail has the hospital photos of her injuries and photos of inside the rental car where she was beaten in Dec 2023.

They are.....horrible. Really upsetting. You can't unsee them or not think about then what must have happened when he murdered her.

They only drive it home harder how insane it is that the judge looked at these photos, listened to that recording, and went ahead and reduced his bond.

PICTURED: Slain nursing student's gruesome injuries by ex-boyfriend

These are the gruesome injuries inflicted on nursing student Lauren Johansen by the 'psychopath' ex who would go on to allegedly kidnap and murder her after a judge lowered his bond.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Rita7]

“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,” he said. “I helped the coroner lift her body out of the car. It was just mutilated.”

Murder victim’s father alleges years of abuse by boyfriend, claims judicial system failed daughter

BBM

I know this is a minor thing in this horrific story, but does anyone else find it weird that the coroner would let a family member help handling the body after a crime scene has been established?
Is this allowed? I wouldn't think so but would be interesting to hear from insiders.

Regardless, this is another tragedy resulting from IPV and it's appalling how helpless these victims seem to be.
Sad on all fronts.

Agree. I've found myself a little baffled at the coroner's decision. It seems pretty odd for me as well.

 

[Twick]

Some clever subterfuge by the police involved in his capture. I guess the boy ain’t all that bright,

“‘'We realized early on that the subject still had his cell phone on him,' Harrison County Sheriff Matt Haley said.

'So undercover officers were able to, through text message, have Rivers believe that he was corresponding with a friend, and we were able to lure him out of the woods.’”

 

[gremlin444]

Welp, here's the most pathetic bandage of a mea culpa:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1814104728428757288

Never mind one of the bigger problems--THE JUDGE WHO LOOKED AT THOSE PICTURES, READ ABOUT THE AUDIO RECORDING, SAW THE POLICE BODY CAM, AND REDUCED HIS BAIL TO LET HIM OUT.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Nick is among those who say Lauren would still be alive if the judge had simply kept Rivers under lock and key until trial.

'I know how bonds work. I know they are not designed to hold someone in place forever,' he told DailyMail.com.

'But when someone hurts another person to that degree, they do not deserve a second chance.'

If Rivers is found guilty of murdering Lauren he doesn't want to see him get the death penalty.

'I don't want him to die. I want him to suffer every day,' Nick explained.

'Lauren was kind, intelligent and outlandishly miraculous in every way, shape and form, there's no other way to describe it.

'I want him to regret killing her for the rest of his life.'

Nursing student's 'killer ex' was once found hiding under her bed

Lauren Johansen's grieving ex-fiancé has told DailyMail.com how the Mississippi nursing student was stalked and terrorized by the gun-toting 'coward' now awaiting trial for her murder.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[gremlin444]

New questions over bonding company's role in Lauren Johansen murder case

Newly obtained photos from Brooke’s Bail Bonding appear to show Bricen Rivers was in violation of his bond conditions at the time he pulled into the company's parking lot.

www.newschannel5.com

So, when Rivers went back to get a new ankle bracelet on the 29th, he was driving Lauren's car and she was in it. He was released at 4:15 on Monday the 24th. I suspect he first made contact with her even sooner than the 29th.

Dad says she must have been held against her will in order to be in the car with him that day. I'm sure she was, but maybe not in the way her loving father means and hopes. If he didn't actually force her in the car at gun/knife point, he still used fear and manipulation to get her to do what he wanted.

 

[gremlin444]

SHERIFF: Evidence suggests Lauren Johansen’s murder took place in Forrest Co.

As the investigation into the murder of 22-year-old Lauren Johansen continues, new information has led law enforcement to believe she was killed outside of Harrison County.

www.wdam.com

The cemetery is in Harrison County, and they initially assumed that that was where she was murdered.

Apparently now, they believe she was killed in Forrest County. Hattiesburg (which is the police department that her father contacted to report her missing) is in Forrest, and I'm assuming that's where she was living at the time.

Also, rereading one of my posts from above where Lauren's dad said he actually talked to her on the 1st and she was alive, aware that Brice was out and that there was a fiasco with his ankle bracelet, and said to her father she was afraid of him--if the footage of Brice coming back on the 29th to get a new ankle bracelet is accurate, and he was driving her car with Lauren in it....

....then I'm even more confused about the time line. If those dates are accurate, he was already in direct contact with her, and she lied to her dad to protect Brice or herself. Maybe she was afraid that if she called police or had her dad call, Brice would go back to court and get out again and be even more furious? Irregardless of her specific reasons, it's pretty clear that abusive coercive control was a huge factor. It does fit with her actions when she was in the hospital and changed what she told the police about what happened in the car incident in Nashville. I can't even imagine the fear she felt for so long.

 

[gremlin444]

Nashville judges order hearing for bond companies to explain 'irregularities' with Bricen Rivers’ release

A six-judge panel will hear testimony from Brooke's Bail Bonding and On Time Bonding next month and decide if these companies should face penalties for how Bricen Rivers' bond conditions were handled.

www.newschannel5.com

An evidentiary hearing has been scheduled for for Aug. 15, for Brooke’s Bail Bonding and On Time Bonding to give testimony. They are also requesting receipts, documents, emails and photos of what knowledge the companies had before Rivers left and went to Mississippi.

"[Freedom Monitoring] would go on to send a letter to Judge Blackburn claiming she was unaware of the judge's conditions for release at the time she installed his ankle monitor but insisted she set up "zones" for Rivers' device on June 28 when she learned of the order."

I guess the question is if she did that before or after Freedom noticed his monitor wasn't functioning and asked him to come in--which he did the next day.

 

[Knox]

SHERIFF: Evidence suggests Lauren Johansen’s murder took place in Forrest Co.

As the investigation into the murder of 22-year-old Lauren Johansen continues, new information has led law enforcement to believe she was killed outside of Harrison County.

www.wdam.com

The cemetery is in Harrison County, and they initially assumed that that was where she was murdered.

Apparently now, they believe she was killed in Forrest County. Hattiesburg (which is the police department that her father contacted to report her missing) is in Forrest, and I'm assuming that's where she was living at the time.

Also, rereading one of my posts from above where Lauren's dad said he actually talked to her on the 1st and she was alive, aware that Brice was out and that there was a fiasco with his ankle bracelet, and said to her father she was afraid of him--if the footage of Brice coming back on the 29th to get a new ankle bracelet is accurate, and he was driving her car with Lauren in it....

....then I'm even more confused about the time line. If those dates are accurate, he was already in direct contact with her, and she lied to her dad to protect Brice or herself. Maybe she was afraid that if she called police or had her dad call, Brice would go back to court and get out again and be even more furious? Irregardless of her specific reasons, it's pretty clear that abusive coercive control was a huge factor. It does fit with her actions when she was in the hospital and changed what she told the police about what happened in the car incident in Nashville. I can't even imagine the fear she felt for so long.

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.

 

[Knox]

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Just saw this!! Lauren actually picked BR up at the bonding agent's office

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