Man Arrested After Paying Hit Man $750,000 For Double Murder, Leaving 'Review' Online
Money and scandal are a deadly combination. Erik Maund, grandson of Austin, Texas, auto dealership tycoon Charles Maund and a partner in the business, is one of the most recent examples of that after being arrested on Monday for allegedly hiring hit men to dispatch of his former mistress and her new boyfriend.
A federal indictment released earlier this week provided details on the charges.
Maund, who is married, allegedly traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, often to visit family, but his ex-girlfriend, 33-year-old Holly Williams, also lived there.
In February 2020, Maund emailed Williams to let her know he’d be in her area and wanted to see her, according to the Austin American-Statesman. On Feb. 5, he texted her.
“Good morning beautiful!” the text read, according to the indictment. “Looking forward to later today. I’m in Nashville. I will meet you in the bar like last time. Text when you arrive.”
Three weeks later, William Lanway, a man investigators say was romantically involved with Williams, texted Maund to threaten to reveal the affair unless an undisclosed sum of money was sent to him.
From there, Maund reportedly reached out to the Austin company Speartip Security, which claims expertise in dealing with extortion, to handle the situation.
Gilad Peled runs the company and claimed to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces. He and two other men — Bryon Brockway, 46, a former Marine; and Adam Carey, 30, also a former Marine — surveilled the targets and executed the plan.
On March 9, Carey sent a document to Peled saying they were watching Williams and “would use everything at their disposal to stop the attempted extortion of Maund.”
A news release about the investigation states that on March 12, Brockway and Carey approached Lanway and Williams in the parking lot of their Nashville apartment complex, shot Lanway to death and kidnapped Williams. Eventually, they shot Williams in the head.
A white 2005 Acura was found crashed at a construction site in Nashville on March 13 with Williams’ and Lanway’s bodies inside.
A money trail of over $750,000 was found flowing from Maund to Peled, with the bulk of the fee being sent after the deed was done, according to CBS News.
To top it all off, someone by the name of “Erik Maund” left a public review for Speartip Security, writing, “Speartip is very professional and on top of it. They get the job done in an expedited time. Couldn’t imagine using anyone else!”
Over the weekend, Maund was arrested during a traffic stop for his involvement in the killings. Peled was arrested at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Brockway in San Diego and Carey at his home in North Carolina.
If convicted, these men face up to life in prison.
Maund’s attorneys, Perry Minton and Sam Bassett, initially said the family “supports their son.”
“We have spoken to Mr. Maund only briefly on the matter,” they said, according to the Statesman. “We will understand more in the coming days and weeks. The entire Maund family loves and supports their son.”
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department also released a statement on the case, highlighting the network of professionals that it took to solve the crime.
“This investigation began with the discovery of two bodies inside a vehicle [in]… 2020,” Chief John Drake said in the statement. “Outstanding investigative work, led by Detectives Patrick Cuthbertson and David Willover, led to multiple leads that drew our attention to other states.
“Realizing this very complex case reached far outside of Nashville, our team enlisted the help of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Our close relationship with our federal partners led to the indictment and arrest of the four individuals.”
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