NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It was just before 5 a.m. on July 2 when a man was spotted pacing back and forth outside Lauren Johansen’s home in Mississippi.
Journalists from Hattiesburg Patriot News Media shared the video, stating that the man wearing a GPS device around his ankle was Bricen Rivers.
A car passes by just moments later and returns after several minutes. The man believed to be Rivers jumped out of the car, ran out in a hurry, before again driving away. Harrison County deputies said that hours later they found Johansen’s body in a car fitting the same description and tracked Rivers to the nearby woods.
Kristen Zachary watched Rivers arrest from a distance, but she knew this was the same man who bonded out of a Nashville jail just days earlier for allegedly beating up Johansen when the two were visiting the city last December.
Rivers was placed on GPS monitoring, but Zachary said had he bonded out hours earlier, there's a good chance her company would have been responsible for making sure Rivers stayed in Davidson County.
“I think there’s just a general perception that GPS monitoring is easy. All you have to do is slap a bracelet on them and collect some money. The people who do that — that’s when things can go wrong,” Zachary said.
Bail conditions were signed by both Brooke's Bail Bonding and On Time Bonding, as well as Rivers, but bail agents later told the court that they had not seen the first page where it said that Rivers couldn’t go anywhere near Johansen.
It also said Rivers must stay in Davidson County and have no contact with the woman who by now was back home in Mississippi.
Local judges eager to find out how Rivers became a murder suspect across state lines, setup what would become a more than four-hour long evidentiary hearing last summer.
That's when agents of Brooke’s Bail Bonding told the court they didn't see the first page of the court order recommending Tracking Solutions as the GPS provider. Either way, they assumed Tracking Solutions was closed after Rivers was mistakenly released without any supervision.
Bond agents later told the six-judge panel that they never bothered to contact Tracking Solutions.
Instead, they had Nakeda Wilhoite — one of their bond agents who ran a GPS monitoring company on the side — install Rivers’ GPS device and track his movement.
“I just knew that it was a kidnapping charge. That’s all I knew. I didn’t know the specifics of the case,” Wilhoite said.
This could explain why she let Rivers leave for Mississippi against the court’s wishes, but it didn’t explain why nothing was done after she realized the mistake and convinced him to come back to Nashville.
Brooke’s Bail Bonding officials told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that the car seen outside their building when Rivers met Wilhoite, matches the same car where deputies later found Johansen’s body.
“He led me to believe that he was going to still stay here in Nashville,” Wilhoite said.
Wilhoite told the courts that she was operating as a GPS monitoring company and not a bond agent, so she didn’t think she had the authority to stop Rivers from leaving in a vehicle that would soon become a crime scene.
Months later Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon, said they were dumbfounded by the idea that this was the first time anyone realized there was a potential conflict of interest.
“They were well aware by that time that there’s been a violation, yet nobody turned them in at that point and that is extremely concerning,” Stevens said.
Bail lobbyists said they were just as concerned with the idea that Wilhoite may have been incentivized not to turn in Rivers.
Which they say is a problem when the person paid every day Rivers wears a GPS device and says nothing to their boss who could’ve sent Rivers back to jail for violating his bond conditions.
Brooke Harlan of Brooke’s Bail Bonding said in court that Wilhoite did not notify her that Rivers was back in Nashville or how she planned to keep him from leaving.
Lobbyists told lawmakers that they estimate as many as 10% of bond companies in Tennessee also run their GPS monitoring, but said they agree something needs to change.
“Us as a provider, we’re very flexible, and we’re here to meet the court’s needs,” Zachary said.
Zachary said they’ve since adjusted hours to better accommodate when someone bonds out of jail later than expected.
She says no matter what we’ve seen elsewhere, they will do what’s necessary to keep victims safe.
New first-of-its-kind laws in Tennessee now say some of the most dangerous domestic violence offenders need to be kept away from victims using this GPS technology.
The Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act is named after Debbie Sisco and Marie Varsos. Both women were killed by Marie’s estranged husband Shaun Varsos, who tracked down the mother and daughter, before turning the gun on himself. Shaun had been out on bond at the time for allegedly choking Marie weeks earlier.
Several bills were considered and later passed in the years that followed to better protect people like Marie and Debbie during what’s often referred to as one of the most dangerous times for domestic violence victims.
GPS monitoring for dangerous offenders was among the new legislation, but the new year could bring new changes to the industry by creating a uniform standard for all monitoring companies to follow.
This could mean monitoring companies are regulated by a state agency rather than the courts, but Zachary said it’s important not to lose sight of what this resource is capable of providing.
Lawmakers said they will present this and many other suggestions in the next legislative session.
