Heartbroken Dad Speaks Out After Daughter on Track to Become Nurse Is Allegedly Beaten to Death by Ex

Lauren Johansen was found mutilated and wrapped in a sheet

After a 22-year-old Mississippi woman was beaten to death and found in a car, her ex-boyfriend was charged with her murder.

Lauren Johansen’s body was found wrapped in a sheet and mutilated in a car on July 3, according to the Sun Herald, WLOX and WTVF.

Her ex, Bricen Rivers, is charged with murder, grand larceny and tampering with evidence, according to jail records.

Rivers appeared in court on Friday, July 26, according to a report from WDAM, and was denied bail by a judge. It is not immediately clear if he has entered a plea to any of the charges.

Johansen’s father, Lance Johansen, spoke out after his daughter's death, according to WLOX.

“This is never going to be right with me no matter how many years this goes on,” Lance reportedly said. “We’re just doing the best we can to go through the stages of the mourning process. There’s no timeline you can put on anything, you just have to live one day at a time, and we’re going to do that to honor Lauren and I’m going to try my best to stand up for her and do what she would do if she saw this happen with somebody else.”

Related: Woman's Body Found at a Cemetery — Ex-Boyfriend, Who Was Recently Released From Jail, Is Arrested

According to reports from WXXV and WLOX , Rivers had been released from a Nashville, Tenn., jail where he was being held on assault charges a few days before Johansen’s death.

According to a statement from Nashville police at the time, Rivers was on vacation with his girlfriend when “she called [her family] screaming, afraid that her boyfriend may kill her.”

The department alleged that Rivers beat her to a point that she almost lost consciousness.

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WDAM and WTVF both reported, citing authorities, that Johansen had been the victim in the Nashville incident, in which Rivers was accused.

A GoFundMe started to raise money in the aftermath of Johansen’s death has raised over $29,000.

In the description, she is described as an animal lover who was an aspiring nurse.

“She was a regular volunteer at multiple animal shelters and rescued many animals,” the description reads. “She took her dog Bentley Jo and cat Marley everywhere she went. She would have brought her rescue horse Cocoa with her if he had fit in her Jeep. Lauren cared for her siblings who were born premature and have many disabilities."

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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