Woman's face was beaten off in gruesome murder after Tennessee judge freed domestic abuser

A woman's face was beaten off by her domestic abuser ex-boyfriend after he was released from a Nashville jail despite viciously-beating her. 

Lauren Johansen is said to have been fatally-mutilated by her domestic abuser ex Bricen Rivers, 23, after he was wrongly allowed to leave a Tennessee lock-up and travel to Mississippi to attack her earlier this month. 

He was in jail for attacking his ex late last year, it is alleged. 

'He beat her so badly that her skull and her face pretty much became fractured from the rest of her body,' Johansen's father Dr Lance Johansen told WDAM.

'He basically beat her until the front of her head came off. No human being deserves to have this happen to them.'

Rivers, who was charged in the brutal death of his ex-girlfriend, faced Forrest County Judge Gay Polk-Payton on Friday. 

He was denied bond and will remain in jail, giving his alleged victim's grieving father some relief.

Rivers was arrested in Nashville in December 2023 after viciously beating the nursing student while the couple were on vacation after going into a jealous rage.

Seven months after being locked up, he was 'mistakenly' released from jail, and returned to Mississippi where he reportedly carried out his ex-girlfriend's murder.

Nashville prosecutors have conceded Rivers should not have been freed by a judge during a bail hearing.

During Friday's 30-minute court proceedings, Forrest County Assistant District Attorney Clay Cranfold listed Rivers' current charges as first-degree murder, grand larceny auto and tampering with evidence.

Forrest County District Attorney Lin Carter told WDAM 7News that 'we made a strong argument against bond.'

The court went along with our argument, and he received no bond on the murder, and then he received a $20,000 bond on the grand larceny auto and the tampering with evidence.'

When the judge asked Rivers if he was out on bond at the time of the murder, the suspect told him 'no, not to my knowledge,' but the ADA intervened and told the judge - Rivers was out on bond for beating his then-girlfriend nearly to death when the couple were in Nashville together.

Lauren's father called Rivers a 'pathological liar.' 

Dr. Lance said, that he 'misled the judge here (Friday). He misled the judge there before, and I think the bottom line is, you cannot take a criminal’s word for saying the right thing.'

In 2022, Rivers’ had a drug trafficking charge in Harrison County, and a year later was faced with kidnapping and stalking charges that were revoked on Friday, as per the news outlet.

Prosecutors said new evidence reveals that Rivers committed the murder in Forrest County, and tried to clean the car to shield the evidence before driving the car to Harrison County, a report said.

Lauren's physician father discovered his daughter's body in the backseat of the car on July 3rd. He described it as 'brutally mutilated.'

The distraught father spoke about the miscarriage of justice that led to his daughter's savage murder but felt some comfort on Friday knowing that Rivers will stay locked up in a detention facility. 

He said, in part, that he already feels 'some relief knowing that' and said, 'this is some justice for me.'

'And I’m confident that he’s never going to see the light of day again,' Johansen said. 'This man’s not done killing people, and if he has a chance, he’ll kill somebody in in jail.'

The young woman was pistol-whipped and beaten by Rivers after he flew into a jealous rage during a night out in Nashville last December.

Exclusive photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the petite young woman riddled with bruises and her face so bloody and swollen she was barely recognizable.

Lauren's wounds were cataloged by her father, an orthopedic surgeon, who wanted the courts to see what Rivers was capable of as he awaited trial on kidnapping and stalking charges.

Lance was so worried for his 'wonderful, kind' daughter's safety that he attended the preliminary hearing to warn a Davidson County judge that Rivers would 'finish the job' if he ever got out of jail.

To his astonishment, Judge Cheryl Blackburn, a longtime Democrat jurist, later decided to lower the alleged attacker's bond from $250,000 to $150,000, paving the way for his June 24 release.

Just nine days after he posted bond and walked free, Lauren was found beaten to death in Gulfport, Mississippi, and Rivers was arrested on suspicion of murdering her.

'You can see what happened when he hit her 100 times back in December so just imagine what he did to her when nobody was around to save her,' Lance told DailyMail.com, fighting tears.

The heartbroken dad-of-four, a respected orthopedic surgeon, added: 'I realize people have rights but you can't just let loose a wild animal.