Inset: Lauren Johansen. Background: Bricen Rivers in court for the murder of 22-year-old Lauren Johansen in Mississippi (WLOX).
A Mississippi man is headed to prison after beating his ex-girlfriend to death and then driving around with her mutilated body "for days" before dumping it and her car at a cemetery.
"The number of skull fractures Lauren had, a Mack truck could hit somebody and not create that many fractures," said Dr. Lance Johansen, father of victim Lauren Johansen, at the sentencing hearing for Bricen Rivers on Friday, according to local ABC and CBS affiliate WLOX.
"The fracture pattern was everywhere," Dr. Johansen continued, noting how he helped remove his daughter's body after it was found in her car in December 2023. "When I took the top of her head off, her brain was torn apart and it was already inside her abdomen. But the fracture lines went everywhere. This is a sign of an animal that beat her to death for no good reason."
Rivers, 25, pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing Lauren Johansen. The slaying happened just days after Rivers bonded out of jail in Nashville, Tennessee — without an ankle monitor — following a domestic violence arrest. The Johansen family had insisted in court that her life would be in danger unless he remained in custody, but the court allowed him to be released.
Rivers allegedly ignored a requirement to stay in Davidson County, Tennessee, and he also ignored a requirement to get an ankle monitor, according to WLOX.
"He drove around with her body in the car for days," said Lance Johansen, who is reportedly an orthopedic surgeon. "He beat her so many times I can't tell you. He manipulated her every way he could."
Lance Johansen told WLOX in July 2024 that he reported his daughter missing to police in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, soon after he learned that a security camera at a home where Lauren Johansen lived with her sister was no longer functioning. The front door to the residence was left open and Lauren's car was also gone.
The vehicle was eventually found via OnStar in "the middle of the cemetery" in Harrison County, Mississippi.
"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," Lance Johansen told WLOX. "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."
Rivers allegedly ran off when cops arrived at the cemetery and was arrested in the woods several hours later.
Police and prosecutors have described Rivers as Lauren Johansen's on-again, off-again boyfriend. A family friend, Shantrell Nicks, told WLOX on Friday that Lauren's life was "cut too short by somebody that I felt like took advantage of her being a nice young lady."
Nicks described the events leading up to Lauren Johansen's death, saying, "She told me that they had a fight in Nashville. Did not know the severity of it."
Harrison County Sheriff Matt Haley said Friday that he believed "the system failed her," WLOX reports.
"There's things that are set in place to protect victims and those things failed," Haley said. "And she lost her life because of it. I want to do my best to make sure we don't see this happen in Harrison County."
Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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