22-year-old American woman found beaten to death, days after judge released her ex-boyfriend from prison
A 22-year-old student in the US was found beaten to death and wrapped in a sheet in the back seat of her car – days after her boyfriend was released from prison. According to the New York PostLauren Johansen’s body was discovered wrapped in garbage bags and a sheet in a Mississippi cemetery on July 3. Her father said he begged a judge not to release her ex-boyfriend from prison, warning he would “kill her” if he did. The judge ignored his warnings, however, and five days later the 22-year-old’s body was found mutilated in her own car. Police say her boyfriend was responsible.
According to the postMs Johansen’s former partner, 23-year-old Bricen Rivers, was arrested and charged with her murder. He had been released on bail just five days before the 22-year-old’s death. He was previously held on aggravated kidnapping charges for brutally beating Ms Johansen and holding her hostage during a trip to Nashville in December.
Ms. Johansen was on track to graduate as a nurse. She was first reported missing on July 2, when her sister woke up alone in their shared apartment with the front door wide open and the security camera smashed. That same morning, her father said, he woke up to receive a notification that her tracking app had been turned off. He then reported her missing, and the next day, officers told him they had found her car in a nearby cemetery.
Ms. Johansen was found dead in her car, which was parked in the middle of a cemetery in Harrison County, Mississippi. Her mutilated body was wrapped in garbage bags and splayed across the back seats.
“She was basically beaten to death. Her face was smashed, her head was smashed, she was beaten so brutally that she could not see out of either eye when she finally died, and she had several holes in her head,” said Ms Johansen’s father.
“I helped the coroner lift her body out of the car. She was completely mutilated,” he continued.
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The father also said he warned the judge that her boyfriend would kill her if he was released from prison. He claimed Rivers took his daughter hostage and beat her in December while the couple was vacationing in Nashville. He added that in the moments before Rivers’ arrest in December, police officers found Lauren Johansen badly beaten and found her trying to escape from a rental car while Rivers reached for a firearm.
The heartbroken father criticized the justice system in Tennessee for failing his family. “I think the justice system in Nashville, Tennessee, failed my daughter and our family. That’s not how the world should work,” he said. “She was really beautiful, super, super smart. She had bigger-than-life dreams and hopes. Everything she did, everything she touched,” he added.
Now Rivers, who was arrested after a six-hour manhunt, is charged with murder and being held on $1 million bail.
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