Texas Auto Dealer Magnet’s Adulterous Affair Goes Fatally Off-Road

Feds: Erik Charles Maund, Austin auto magnate, hired hitmen to kill ex-girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend

DEC 13, 2021 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: DEC 15, 2021

A prominent Austin businessman, described by investigators as a partner in his family’s Maund Auto Group, has been indicted in the contract killings of his ex-girlfriend and her former boyfriend, federal prosecutors allege.

According to investigators, Erik Charles Maund hired an Austin security specialist and two other men — a purported member of the Israeli Defense Forces and a special operations U.S. Marine — to shoot the pair. The motive, investigators say: The former boyfriend called Maund, who is married, to extort him by threatening to expose the affair.

The price for silence: more than $750,000 for the March 2020 hits, the federal indictment unsealed Monday said.

The bodies of Holly A. Williams, 33, and William L. Lanway, 36, were discovered in March 2020 in a white 2005 Acura at a Nashville, Tenn., construction site, according to authorities and published reports. At the time, Nashville police said they were looking for three men who were seen outside Williams’ apartment — and captured on camera — a few days before the homicides.

Who was involved? An Austin businessman and an estranged Nashville couple: Who is accused of doing what in this case?

Representatives for the Maund Automotive Group did not immediately have a comment Monday. It was unclear whether Maund remained part of the company. His grandfather started the Central Texas automotive chain, which includes Volkswagen and Toyota dealerships.

Attorneys Perry Minton and Sam Bassett represent Maund and said in a statement Monday: “We have spoken to Mr. Maund only briefly on the matter. We will understand more in the coming days and weeks. The entire Maund family loves and supports their son.”

According to the indictment, Maund traveled frequently to Nashville to see what FBI agents described as a family member. In February 2020, he emailed Williams to alert her he would be in Nashville again and wanted to see her.

While staying at a downtown hotel, he texted her Feb. 5 from a phone number linked to his company: “Good morning beautiful! Looking forward to later today. I’m in Nashville. I will meet you in the bar like last time. Text when you arrive,” according to the indictment.

About three weeks later, Maund received a text message from Lanway, who said he wanted money or he would expose the affair with Williams, investigators said. The document did not say how much money Lanway demanded.

After the text message, Maund “set events in motion to kidnap, threaten and intimidate (Williams and Lanway) in retaliation,” the indictment said.

He contacted Gilad Peled, who operated the Austin-based firm Speartip Security Group, which the indictment said specialized in “responding to extortion demands.” Peled held himself out to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces.

The indictment said two other men, Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey, joined the plot but did not describe how they were associated with Maund. But it added that Maund hired them either “directly or indirectly.”

According to federal investigators, Maund withdrew $15,000 from his bank account the same day an “intelligence report” was prepared and given to Peled by a relative of Brockway’s who worked for a security company.

On March 9, 2020, Peled received a document stating that Carey and others had surveilled Williams and “would use everything at their disposal to stop the attempted extortion of Maund,” federal officials said.

Federal officials said they tracked money flowing from Maund to Peled “as payment to Peled, Broadway, and Carey for the kidnapping and murder.”

According to the indictment, Brockway and Carey confronted Williams and Lanway in the parking lot of their apartment complex and kidnapped them. Landway died first, shot in the head, and the pair then shot Williams, also in the head, the indictment says.

Maund then completed the payments for the contract killings, prosecutors said.

Investigators said that this weekend police in Austin pulled over Maund during a traffic stop and arrested him for the killings. Authorities apprehended Peled at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Brockway was arrested in San Diego, and Carey was arrested at his home in North Carolina.

The men remained in federal custody Monday. They face up to life in prison if convicted.

An Austin businessman and an estranged Nashville couple: Who was involved in an alleged murder-for-hire case?

DEC 14, 2021 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: DEC 15, 2021

An Austin businessman has been accused by the FBI of hiring men with military experience to kill his ex-girlfriend and her estranged boyfriend.

The two people — Holly A. Williams and William L. Lanway — were found dead in a car at a construction site in Nashville, Tenn., in March 2020.

The indictment accuses Erik Charles Maund of hiring an Austin security specialist and two former Marines to carry out the crime. All four men were arrested last weekend at separate locations.

Here’s what we know about the individuals involved in the case:

Erik Charles Maund is related to Austin auto dealerships’ namesake Charles Maund

Erik Maund, 46, is the grandson of Charles Maund, whose name remains on two auto dealerships in Austin. His grandfather started Maund Automobile Group in 1957 with the opening of Charles Maund Oldsmobile-Cadillac, according to his 2002 obituary.

The auto group says it’s been a family run business since that time, but neither the company’s website nor its Toyota or Volkswagen dealership lists Erik Maund or any other Maund as part of the staff. His role in the company has not been disclosed, and representatives for the company have not responded to comment.

Erik Maund

According to the indictment, Erik Maund had a prior relationship with Williams and emailed her saying he wanted to see her on an upcoming visit to Nashville. Maund occasionally visited Nashville to see a relative, the indictment said.

It is not clear when the relationship began or what the nature of their relationship was at that point.

He texted Williams from a phone number linked to his company while at a Nashville hotel on Feb. 5, 2020.

“Good morning beautiful! Looking forward to later today. I’m in Nashville. I will meet you in the bar like last time. Text when you arrive,” he wrote, according to the indictment.

Weeks later, Maund received a text from Lanway, a man Nashville police previously said was an estranged boyfriend of Williams’. In the March 1, 2020, text, Lanway threatened to reveal that Maund was having an affair unless he paid him.

The amount Lanway was seeking was not disclosed by authorities.

Nashville, Tenn., police examine a car crash scene where the two bodies were found.

According to federal investigators, Maund transferred in excess of $750,000 from his bank account to an account controlled by Gilad Peled via wire on March 11 as payment for his services and those of Byron Brockway and Adam Carey.

The payment was made days after an “intelligence report” was prepared and provided to Peled and after surveillance of the two people was done by Carey.

Maund was arrested during a traffic stop in Austin last Friday. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

William Lanway was facing criminal charges of attacking estranged girlfriend

Nashville police said in April 2002 that Lanway, 36, and Williams, 33, were an estranged couple. Court records show that she called police on Lanway at least three times in the year before their deaths.

In April 2019, she told police her boyfriend had hit her and damaged her vehicle. Lanway was charged with domestic assault and vandalism.

William Lanway

In January 2020, Williams said Lanway tried to strangle her. The pair had recently broken up, she told officers, but he had stayed in her apartment for several months.

“She stated she thought he might kill her,” a police report says. He “was telling her to ‘be quiet’ and ‘this only happened because you tried to run away.’”

That time, Lanway was charged with felonies, aggravated assault by strangulation with intent to kill and false imprisonment.

Four days later, police were called again. Williams said Lanway took her dog, saying that her ex-boyfriend let the dog out of his car by the side of the road. Records say Williams later found her dog dead. Lanway was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.

A LinkedIn profile matching his name and high school states that he worked as an auto glass technician at a Clarksville, Tenn., shop for 10 years.

According to his obituary, he is survived “by a host of family and friends who loved him dearly,” including his mother and his daughter.

Lanway and Williams were found dead March 13, 2020.

According to the indictment, Brockway and Carey had confronted both of them in the parking lot of his apartment complex in West Nashville two days earlier. Lanway was shot and killed there. The indictment says he was shot multiple times and murdered by both individuals.

Holly Williams worked outside of Nashville

According to Williams’ obituary, she was an aspiring “aesthetician.” An Instagram profile bearing her name and photos said she specialized in skin care and makeup artistry and had frequent location tags of Murfreesboro, Tenn., just south of Nashville. She is survived by her parents, grandparents, five siblings, and “a crew of supportive friends.”

Holly A. Williams

It is unclear how and when she met Lanway and Maund.

After Lanway was killed in the parking lot of the apartment complex, Brockway and Carey kidnapped Williams, taking the body of Lanway with them, the indictment says. They drove to a construction site, where Williams was shot multiple times, the indictment says.

The two were discovered dead in a crashed car off a construction road in West Nashville on March 13.

Gilad Peled is owner of Speartip Security Group

Peled, 47, is the owner of Speartip Security Group in Austin. He claimed to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces,

Both Peled and his company have valid licenses/registrations as private security providers from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Private Security Bureau. The company’s website says they are veteran-owned and offer a range of services, including:

VIP/executive protection.
Private estate/residential security.
Special event services.
Armored vehicle services.
Armed guard protection — schools/businesses.

The indictment says Maund enlisted Peled, Brockway and Carey’s services after receiving a text message from Lanway seeking to extort him. On March 5, the document says, an “intelligence report” was prepared and provided to Peled by a relative of Brockway’s who worked for an “internet-based security company.”

Gilad Peled

Four days later, a document entitled “Tennessee Sitrep,” was delivered to Peled. It outlined how Carey and others had surveilled Lanway and Williams and advised that they would do “everything at their disposal to stop the attempted extortion of Maund.”

On March 11, the indictment says Peled deposited $8,000 in cash to Speartip Security Group’s business account and $7,000 to his personal account. That same day, Maund transferred more than $750,000 to an account controlled by Peled.

Peled was arrested Friday at Austin’s airport. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

Bryon Brockway one of 2 former Marines who is accused of killing Holly Williams, William Lanway
Brockway is former active duty U.S. Marine. He spent four years as a team leader for Force Recon, a special operations unit.

Records show that he started his own security company, Ink Force LLC, in June 2021. His LinkedIn profile lists three years of experience as director of operations for “The Guidry Group,” a Montgomery, Texas-based company that advertises on its website as being the “global leader for kidnap and ransom resolution, security services, and crisis response/management with experience in 148 countries.”

Byron Brockway

The indictment alleges that Brockway joined Carey on March 11 in confronting Lanway and Williams in the parking lot of Lanway’s apartment complex. Lanway was killed there and then Williams was killed at a construction site. While the indictment says both men were armed, it is not clear whether Brockway shot both individuals, shot just one or did not fire his weapon.

Brockway was driven to Memphis, Tenn., where he caught a flight back to Austin. On Friday, he was arrested in San Diego.

He will make an initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge in a federal district court. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

Adam Carey is other Marine accused of killing couple in Nashville

Carey, 30, is also a former active-duty Marine who spent time in a special operations group.

Adam Carey

The indictment says Carey traveled to Nashville a week before Lanway and Williams were killed and used a Pinger app in an attempt to communicate with them. He carried out surveillance on the couple, confirming that they were living together at a specific address.

After the two were killed, Carey drove Brockway to Memphis before continuing his drive to Austin, the indictment says. While the indictment says both men were armed, it is not clear whether Carey shot both individuals, shot just one, or did not fire his weapon.

The indictment says Carey is from North Carolina and was arrested there Friday. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.