in December 2023 Nashville Metro Police arrested a man named Bryson rivers on charges of aggravated kidnapping of his girlfriend Lauren Johansson the charges were filed by Lauren's father Lance Johansson who told the police that Rivers kept his daughter hostage and brutally beat her during their vacation in Tennessee during River's trial Lance Johansson told the judge if the accused was ever released from jail he would kill his daughter and that's exactly what happened when Bryson Rivers got out of jail after 7 months how was a culprit released on bond able to kill his girlfriend why wasn't he being tracked by police and how did he get so close to Lauren watch this video until the very end to find answers to all these questions and discover shocking details about the case of Lauren Johansson Lauren Johansson was born on the 30th of October in 2021 in Ocean Springs Mississippi she was the oldest of the four children of Lance and Tamila Johansson both of Lauren's parents worked in the medical field which made Lauren pursue a nursing career After High School Lauren wasn't only a bright student but also actively participated in social work like volunteering at animal shelters during High School Lauren Johansson started dating a star football player of her school Bryson Rivers the relationship continued even after the school ended and continued for nearly 5 years however Lauren and Bryson weren't a normal couple as their relationship was marked by trouble and toxicity from the very start this was mainly because of Behavioral issues with Bryson Rivers people close to the two High School sweethearts noticed that Bryson often found it hard to regulate his emotions he regularly got angry outbursts which led to frequent arguments with his girlfriend Bryson was controlling and possessive and wanted to govern every aspect of Lauren's life his ideal image of their relationship was that Lauren was completely isolated from her friends and family but that wasn't it Bryon blamed Lauren for his emotional instability and gradually made her believe that his emotional state was her responsib Lauren was brainwashed by her boyfriend to the extent that she always went back to him regardless of how abusive or toxic their relationship became After High School Lauren Johnson went to the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattisburg to study nursing in 2023 while in college Lauren met Nick Bell a 24-year-old Army Aviation veteran who was also studying nursing in the same college and lived next door to Lauren contrary to Bryson's toxicity Nick offered Lauren safety and protection she gradually opened up to Nick about Bryson and his toxic Tendencies Nick later told the media that once after a trip Lauren asked him to check if the house was safe upon searching Nick found Bryson hiding underneath Lauren's bed not only this Bryson had nailed all the doors shut so Lauren couldn't leave when she was in although Bryson left the house at that time he didn't stop stalking Lauren and her new boyfriend as time passed the love between Lauren and Nick grew and in August 2023 he asked Lauren to marry him while the couple were on vacation in Miami Lauren seemed to have finally found a partner who valued and truly loved her but it soon ended when Bryson Rivers made his way back into her life after getting back together Lauren and Bryson took a trip to Tennessee in December 2023 during an outing to a local bar Bryson accused Lauren of having sex with one of the bartenders Bryson forcefully got Lauren into the car and drove to a deserted parking lot and viciously beat her to the point that she almost lost consciousness he even choked her and threatened that if she tried to leave the car or call for help she wasn't going to wake up the next morning while beating her Bryson told Lauren that he had scheduled marriage counseling for the couple and was extremely Furious that she made out with the bartender which Lauren continuously denied he even told Lauren that he was going to kill himself after he was done beating her when the police arrived in the parking lot they found a car with fogged windows with Lauren banging on the passenger side window for help Bryson had beaten Lauren to the extent that she was complet completely covered in blood when one of the officers opened the car door Lauren's injuries were so serious that she had to be hospitalized for 2 days Bryson on the other hand acted as if nothing had happened at all when he was being arrested he calmly asked the police officers the reason for his arrest despite knowing very well that he had just physically assaulted his girlfriend with rocks and a pistol Bryson Rivers was arrested and taken to a Nashville jail as for Lauren Johansson she visited a domestic violence Center Lauren told the authorities that although she carried a gun with her and it was in her bag on the back seat of the car Bryson Rivers forcefully prevented her from reaching the gun her official statement also said the car was in the parking lot for nearly an hour and she blew up the horn every time a vehicle passed in hopes that someone would come to her rescue and she also told the authorities that Bryson held his forearm against her throat until she got dizzy a few days after the incident Lauren accepted a phone call from Bryson and later told the police that she did not want to press charges against her boyfriend Bryson had once again gotten into Laura's head and persuaded her to tell the court that she had got injured because she was drunk and hit her head against the car windows he also told her that he wanted to get back together and hinted at joining the military after getting out of jail this was to convince Lauren that there was still hope in their relationship and that military service would straighten him and help him with his anger issues however Lauren told Bryson that she'd already given her statement to the authorities and given the circumstances it was likely that the police would take what she initially said as her official statement when Lauren expressed her desire not to press charges against her abusive boyfriend the police told her that they had enough evidence to pursue a case against Bryson on their own Bryson Rivers was charged with aggravated kidnapping aggravated stalking and witness coercion but this wasn't enough to compel Lauren to stay away from her toxic boyfriend later in an interview Lance Johansson told the media that he never got positive signs from his daughter's relationship with Bryson Rivers but didn't interfere and respected Lauren's decision he also shared that after finding out about the true extent of abuse and flicted by Bryson on his daughter he repeatedly warned Lauren about staying away from her toxic boyfriend but whenever she did so Bryson found a way to manipulate her and get back into her life on Monday the 18th of December 2023 a preliminary hearing set Bryson's Bond at $251,000 Lance Johansson was present at the hearing and told the judge that if Rivers was ever released it was likely that he would kill his daughter he told the court that this wasn't the first time Bryson had physically assaulted his daughter and while the family would get Lauren away from Bryson for a while he always found a way to get back to her and again abused her physically on March 13th 2024 Bryson Rivers filed a motion in Nashville Court requesting that his bond be reduced while the Nashville district attorney's office strongly opposed the bond reduction request judge Cheryl Blackburn approved Bryson's request and reduced his bond from $251,000 to $150,000 on the 3rd of April 2024 what's even more shocking was that the judge reviewed the 11-minute audio for December 2023 when Bryson viciously beat Lauren Johansson the police also told the court that Lauren had changed her statement after talking to Bryson over the phone but despite compelling evidence against the accused the judge reduced the bond in her new statement Laura had told the authorities that Bryson Rivers did not assault her and the blood on her body was because she hid herself against the car windows she even said that it was in fact her who tried to injure Bryson while Bryson River's Bond was reduced the Court's decision came with certain conditions too for example he wasn't allowed to leave Davidson County Tennessee he also had to be fitted with a GPS monitor after posting the order also noted Bryson should be released before 4 p. m. so there was enough time for him to get the GPS tracker company's office and get fitted for his GPS tracker on May 15th 2024 a motion was filed by Bryson rivers and his mother to change the conditions of his release so he could go live with his family in Mississippi while a trial date was set the judge denied this request and a company named Elite bom bonding was approved by the court to post Bryson's Bond on the 4th of June 2024 however the company's owner decided against following the case because he wasn't sure how Bryson was going to live without his family on the same day Bryson's assigned parole officer sent a copy of the court order to tracking Solutions the GPS tracker company about Bryson's Bond conditions Bryson's lawyer requested that an email should be sent to the district attorney's office so that the appropriate address for exclusion could be retrieved an address was also provided to the by Bryson's attorney where he would be living while waiting for his trial the court approved two different bond companies ontime bail bonding and Brooks bail bonding to post Bryson's bail both these companies were to put up $75,000 each they were required to come to the court and sign the order concerning Bryson Rivers bail the court order was two pages long and specified all the bonding conditions including who will pay how much for the bail the first page of the order dictated the tracking Solutions the GPS monitoring company would fit the G GPS monitor on Bryson Rivers however it was later revealed that the employee of Brooks bonding one of the bond companies was shown only the second page of the Court's order and therefore the company didn't know that Rivers was to be taken to tracking solutions to get a GPS monitor fit on him after completing all the legal formalities Bryson Rivers was released on bond from Maximum Correctional Center on Harding Place on Monday 24th of June 20124 despite one of the bail conditions stating that he'd be released before 400 p.
m. Bryson was released at 4:05 p. m.
not only this the office of the Davidson County chief Deputy Criminal Court clerk Julius SLO also made a mistake when it came to sharing information on the conditions of Bryson's release the bonding company in the bail also wasn't aware of the full release conditions because they weren't handed over by the clerk's office the clerk would later claim that knowing the bail conditions is the bonding company's responsibility and a Bonding Company should always know beforehand what is being signed the chief Deputy Criminal Court clerk also added that it wasn't the clerk's office responsibility to make the officials from the bond companies read official documents because people from the bond companies are used to seeing such documents all the time in River's situation the accused would normally be released in the custody of a bonding agent however because of incomplete information and ineffective communication Bryson was released from the correctional center on his own but that wasn't the only mistake the authorities made that day when a bonding agent finally picked up Bryson Rivers later that day instead of taking him to tracking Solutions the company responsible for fitting a GPS tracker on him he was taken to the wrong GPS monitoring company the new monitoring company Freedom monitoring Services was established just 7 days before Bryson Rivers's release and didn't know his full release conditions this is the reason the company did not know that the court had banned rivers from traveling outside of Davidson County but when they became aware of the condition several days had already passed and Bryson Rivers had already left Tennessee while Freedom monitoring service did ask Bryson about the location he would be living in Mississippi they didn't know the address he gave them was in fact Lauren Johansson's Bryson didn't come back to Tennessee until 5 days later on June 29th 2004 because he was told by the GPS monitoring company that there was an issue with the GPS Monitor and he immediately needed to report to the company's office in Nashville however he didn't stay in Nashville for long and once again disappeared he had a hearing at Davidson County courtroom scheduled for the 2nd of July 2024 but he never showed up to the courts moreover the battery on his GPS tracker also started dying by this point and the GPS monitoring company last tracked him in beloy Mississippi when the freedom monitoring Services contacted Bryson Rivers's mother about his whereabouts she told him that she hadn't seen her son recently and didn't know where he was the authorities including the GPS tracking company and the bond agents tried to contact Bryson Rivers however they couldn't reach him in the light of the evidence that Bryson Rivers had been in Mississippi despite being ordered to not leave Davidson County the court issued an arrest warrant for him meanwhile on June 28th 2024 Lauren's father Lance Johansson received a voicemail from the Nashville district attorney's office informing him about Bryson River's release and also cautioned him about keeping his daughter safe this is Bailey calling from the District Attorney's office in Nashville Bryson Rivers was released from custody he was supposed to report straight to the GPS company and be put on GPS Monitor and he was not to leave Davidson County but as soon as he was released he did not report to that GPS monitor in company and has not been heard from I wanted to make sure Lauren is safe Lance Johansson didn't hear the voicemail until the 1st of July as soon as he came to know about the situation he texted his daughter about her well-being although he did get a response from Lauren Lance Johansson later revealed that the contents of the text didn't sound like his daughter and something seemed off the whole situation came across as a surprise to Lance because firstly he was given every assurance that Bryce Rivers would not be released from jail and that Lauren was safe second when Bryson was released Lance didn't know about it for as long as a week to keep their daughter and other children safe Lance and Tamila had everyone installed the Life 360 app on their cell phones this app kept all the family members updated about each other's locations and status on the 2nd of July 20024 at 4:00 a. m. Lance Johansson received a notification on his cell phone informing him that Lauren's Life 360 app had been turned off at the time of the incident Lauren was living with her sister in Hattisburg the sister also told her father that when she woke up in the morning Lauren was gone and the front door of the house was open not only this someone had ripped off the security camera of the house too upon knowing that his daughter was missing Lance Johansson immediately contacted Hattisburg police and informed them about the situation when he went to the police station to get an update on the situation he was shocked to find out the police hadn't done anything to track Lauren the authorities kept delaying any action on the matter until 3: p.
m. on Wednesday the 3rd of July when Lance insisted that they should try to locate Lauren's car the police used OnStar a vehicle safety feature to track Lauren's car the tracking pinged in the Gulfport area of Harrison County roughly 90 minutes away from where Lauren was living in Hattisburg the authorities contacted Lance Johansson and informed him about where his daughter's car had been located without wasting any time Lance drove to the location right away on July 3rd 2024 the police found Lauren Johansson's car in Wolf River Cemetery with Lauren lying dead on the back seat of the car what was even more shocking to both the law enforcement officials and Lance Johansson was that Lauren's body was wrapped up in sheets and trash bags it was clear that she hadd been beaten to death because her face was smashed in her eyes were swollen to the extent that she couldn't see anything at the time of her death and her head had multiple holes in it the whole body was horrifically mutilated Lauren had been beaten so viciously that her face and skull became fractured from the rest of her body when the law enforcement agencies arrived at the scene a male figure left Lauren's car and ran into the woods nearby with more than 50 officers drones dogs a helicopter and other search methods the police began searching for the man after more than 6 hours of Manhunt the law enforcement agencies were finally able to get hold of Bryson rivers and arrest him through text messages the police were able to convince Bryson that he was talking to a friend who was there to get him to a safe location as soon as Rivers reached the agreed upon location to be rescued by a supposed friend he was arrested by police it was later revealed that both the GPS tracking company and and the bond company didn't realize the gravity of the situation until July 1st 2024 when they repeatedly called Bryson rivers and tried to tell him that he was in violation of his bond terms and he immediately needed to get back to Nashville or his bond would be revoked Bryson Rivers finally returned his track and Company's call around midnight but he told them that he wasn't going to show up for the hearing and that is exactly what happened new evidence in the case also revealed that Lauren Johnson was killed by Bryson rivers in Forest County and not Harrison County where she was living at the time time of her murder after finding new evidence in the case and establishing that the crime was committed in Forest County Bryson Rivers was handed over to the Forest County Police Department after being relocated from Harrison County Bryson Rivers made his first court appearance in Forest County court on the 26th of July 2024 in addition to the charges he was facing in relation to his physical assault of Lauren Johansson in December 2023 new charges were added to his case these included first-degree murder and denial of his bond he was also charged with tampering with evidence in Grand Larsen the prosecutors told the court that they believed that Lauren Johansson was killed by Bryson rivers near her residence in Forest County and then her body was moved across the county lines to Harrison County the preliminary trial date of Bryson Rivers was set for 1:30 p. m.
on the 31st of July at the Gulfport Justice Court in Harrison County and his bond was set at $1 million on August 23rd 2024 Bryson Rivers appeared in the court of Judge gay pulk Payton and his lawyer requested for a bond however the request was denied Daniel benois investigator for the Forest County Sheriff's Department gave an update about the investigation and shared important updates according to benois his Department found video footage from the week when Bryson Rivers was released on bond the footage showed that Lauren Johansson and Bryce Rivers voluntarily visited a hotel together the phone records submitted to the court showed that on the 2nd of July Bryson Rivers tried to contact Lauren Johansson 126 times Beno told the court that Bryson consistently asked Lauren about her whereabouts however she never responded to her calls or messages between July 1st and July 2nd Bryson Rivers also visited his mother's house in McKenry according to the Forest Police Department on July 2nd at 2:15 a. m. he sent a message to his friend and asked him to drive him to Hattisburg security cameras in the neighborhood where Lauren Johansson was living in Hattisburg spotted Bryson rivers in the early morning hours of the 2nd of July due due to the recent events Lauren Johansson had installed 11 cameras at her residence however when she went missing and the police officers searched her home they found that five of the cameras were stolen Rivers was captured in the security cameras at 3:58 a.
m. and could be seen heading towards Lauren's house at the time there were three people in the house which included Lauren Johansson herself her sister and a friend named JC Wilson Lance Johansson told the media that Lauren had likely called JC Wilson to her house for her protection because he had already told her daughter that Bryson Rivers was out of jail and she should be safe security footage showed Bryson Rivers walking from Lauren's house around 511 a. m.
for a brief moment before running back in when rivers left the house for the second time he wasn't wearing a shirt Lauren johanson's car left her house at 5:51 a. m.
