Body of Mississippi nursing student, 22, is found mutilated in a cemetery after surgeon father warned Nashville judge her life was in danger

Respected surgeon Lance Johansen passionately implored the judge not to release his daughter’s boyfriend from jail, warning that he would harm her. Bricen Rivers, 23, had been incarcerated for forcibly confining his long-term girlfriend, 22-year-old Lauren Johnsen, and subjecting her to severe beatings during a vacation in Nashville.

“I sat in the Nashville courtroom and cautioned the judge that if they released him, he would end her life,” he stated.

Tragically, his forewarning proved true when Lauren’s mutilated body was discovered abandoned in her own car on Wednesday.

“He had assaulted her—this was perhaps the fifth or sixth instance where they had an altercation, and he would physically harm her. We managed to separate her from him for a while, but he found a means to insinuate himself back into her life,” Dr. Johansen shared.

Dr. Johansen journeyed from Biloxi, Mississippi, to fervently appeal to the Nashville court after Rivers’ apprehension in December, and for a period, his plea had an impact.

However, following a seven-month stint in jail, Rivers’ attorney persuaded Judge Cheryl Blackburn to reduce his bail from $250,000to$150,000, facilitating his release.

As a condition of his bail, he was required to proceed directly to a company for the installation of a GPS ankle monitor. However, he failed to comply and vanished.

“They released him without informing us and without fitting the ankle monitor. They simply allowed him to leave the jail,” Johansen informed WLOX.

Unaware of Rivers’ release, the father only learned of it upon receiving a voicemail from the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office on Monday.

“This is Bailey from the district attorney’s office in Nashville. Bricen Rivers was released from custody,” the message shared with WLOX revealed.

“He was expected to promptly report to a GPS company to be equipped with a tracking device and was not authorized to depart from Davidson County.

“However, upon his release, he failed to comply with the requirement and has not made contact. I wanted to ensure Lauren’s safety.”

Regrettably, Lauren was not safe.

Johansen made frantic attempts to contact her, but she did not respond, and he noted that the texts he received from her number “didn’t seem authentic to her usual way of speaking.”

Around 4pm on Tuesday, he received a notification that her Life360 tracker had been deactivated.

Subsequently, his younger daughter, who resided with Lauren, informed him that the security camera had been destroyed, and the door was left ajar. Lauren was missing.

Johansen reported her disappearance to the local Hattiesburg Police in Biloxi, but when he followed up the next morning, he claimed that minimal action had been taken.

“We assumed they would track the vehicle and make efforts to locate her, but they didn’t do so until Wednesday at 3 pm when I insisted on determining the car’s whereabouts,” he stated.

The signal from Lauren’s car led to the Wolf River Cemetery in a secluded area of Gulfport, Mississippi, prompting the police to hasten to the location.

Rivers was discovered in the vehicle, but he fled into the woods as soon as the police arrived, initiating a pursuit that lasted for hours.

Upon Johansen’s arrival at the scene, he immediately suspected that Lauren was no longer alive.

Her severely injured body was discovered within the vehicle, wrapped in linens and garbage bags and positioned across the rear seat.

“She was essentially beaten to death. Her face and head were grievously injured, to the extent that she was unable to see out of either eye before she passed away, and there were numerous wounds on her head,” recounted her father. “I assisted the coroner in removing her body from the car. It was severely disfigured.”

Rivers, who asserts on social media that he is a US Marine Corps veteran, was eventually apprehended around 11:30 pm following an almost nine-hour pursuit.

“We quickly realized that the suspect still had his cell phone with him,” stated Harrison County Sheriff Matt Haley. “Undercover officers managed to engage Rivers in a text conversation, convincing him that he was communicating with a friend, and we were able to lure him out of the woods.”

Approximately 50 officers also employed drones, helicopters, and dogs during the search.

Rivers was arrested and placed in the Harrison County jail at 1 am on Thursday, where he is currently held on a $1 million bond, facing a charge of murder.

Johansen expressed, “I believe the criminal justice system in Nashville failed my daughter and our family. The world shouldn’t operate in this manner. She was remarkably beautiful, incredibly intelligent. She had ambitious and grand aspirations and dreams.”

“Everything she pursued, everything she was involved in, was immensely successful,” added the orthopedic surgeon. Lauren was enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi, aiming to become a nurse.

An autopsy for Lauren’s body is scheduled to take place next week.