Headline: Texas Businessman Found Guilty in Murder-for-Hire Plot Involving Escort Blackmail
Dec 16, 2023, 02:00 AM
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Erik Charles Maund, a married Texas businessman and heir to a lucrative car company in Austin, has been convicted in a murder-for-hire plot that unfolded after his extramarital involvement with a Nashville escort, Holly Williams. The case took a dark twist as Maund, facing blackmail threats, orchestrated the murders of Williams and her boyfriend, William Lanway.
About a month after Maund's affair with 33-year-old Williams, he received anonymous
threatening texts demanding $25,000. As the situation escalated, Maund
conducted a privately funded investigation and hired Gilad Peled to find out
who was behind the extortion. Peled hired two retired U.S. Marines, Bryon
Brockway and Adam Carey, to go to Nashville to investigate Lanway and
Williams. On March 12, 2020, the day after Maund was supposed to pay the extortion money, Williams and Lanway were found dead in a Nashville construction site with bullet holes in their heads.
Three years later, Maund was found guilty by a federal jury of orchestrating the
murders after an 11-day trial. The former Marines, Brockway and Carey, were
also convicted for their roles in the conspiracy. Peled, who pleaded guilty before the trial, became the prosecution's star witness. The trial revealed a complex web of
events, beginning with Maund's extramarital affair with Williams, the
subsequent blackmail, and the deadly conspiracy that unfolded.
In February 2020, on a trip to Nashville, Maund texted Williams that he was “looking forward” to seeing her, according to court documents. This was their second encounter, as they had been together about a year earlier.
“Good day beautiful! Looking forward too [sic] later. I’m in Nashville. I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive,” he texted the escort on Feb. 5, 2020, the federal indictment says. According to the transcript of his testimony,
Maund told his wife he was visiting their son in college.
Lanway “sent a series of texts” on March 1, 2020, demanding “monetary payment”
The next day, Maund called Peled and offered to pay him $60,000 to “start an investigation” into who was sending the texts. According to court transcripts, Peled
testified that, “He told me that he went to visit his son in Nashville,
Tennessee, where he goes to college, and while he was there, he was using
escort services. When he came back, he got a text message – a text message that
was demanding money … and if he would not pay them, they will contact his
family and out the fact that he was using escort services.”
Peled said there were not any discussions about killing Lanway or Williams. When he asked what Maund thought about going to the police, Peled said that he was reluctant. “He didn’t want information to come out, says it’s going to hurt his marriage. He didn’t want his kids to know about it. He said it’s going to devastate him if his kids are going to find out.”
Peled said Maund, and Brockway went to Nashville themselves “to solve the problem.”
“What was (Brockway’s) proposal?” the prosecutor asked Peled.
“He proposed to, in his words, to take Mr. Lanway out,” Peled testified.
He testified that he expected Maund to reject the idea, but instead Maund “jumped on the offer.” Maund agreed to pay $100,000 each to Brockway
and Carey. He also paid $550,000 to Peled, according to court documents.
Brockway fatally shot Lanway in the parking lot of Williams’ apartment complex, and Carey killed Williams after driving to the construction site and left the bodies there.
Maund was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
Carey and Brockway were both convicted of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, kidnapping resulting in death, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Maund, Brockway, and Carey face mandatory life sentences in federal prison.
They will be sentenced in separate hearings sometime in 2024.
Peled will also be sentenced in 2024 where U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. will take his cooperation into consideration as part of his sentence.
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About a month after Maund's affair with 33-year-old Williams, he received anonymous
threatening texts demanding $25,000. As the situation escalated, Maund
conducted a privately funded investigation and hired Gilad Peled to find out
who was behind the extortion. Peled hired two retired U.S. Marines, Bryon
Brockway and Adam Carey, to go to Nashville to investigate Lanway and
Williams. On March 12, 2020, the day after Maund was supposed to pay the extortion money, Williams and Lanway were found dead in a Nashville construction site with bullet holes in their heads.
Three years later, Maund was found guilty by a federal jury of orchestrating the
murders after an 11-day trial. The former Marines, Brockway and Carey, were
also convicted for their roles in the conspiracy. Peled, who pleaded guilty before the trial, became the prosecution's star witness. The trial revealed a complex web of
events, beginning with Maund's extramarital affair with Williams, the
subsequent blackmail, and the deadly conspiracy that unfolded.
In February 2020, on a trip to Nashville, Maund texted Williams that he was “looking forward” to seeing her, according to court documents. This was their second encounter, as they had been together about a year earlier.
“Good day beautiful! Looking forward too [sic] later. I’m in Nashville. I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive,” he texted the escort on Feb. 5, 2020, the federal indictment says. According to the transcript of his testimony,
Maund told his wife he was visiting their son in college.
Lanway “sent a series of texts” on March 1, 2020, demanding “monetary payment”
The next day, Maund called Peled and offered to pay him $60,000 to “start an investigation” into who was sending the texts. According to court transcripts, Peled
testified that, “He told me that he went to visit his son in Nashville,
Tennessee, where he goes to college, and while he was there, he was using
escort services. When he came back, he got a text message – a text message that
was demanding money … and if he would not pay them, they will contact his
family and out the fact that he was using escort services.”
Peled said there were not any discussions about killing Lanway or Williams. When he asked what Maund thought about going to the police, Peled said that he was reluctant. “He didn’t want information to come out, says it’s going to hurt his marriage. He didn’t want his kids to know about it. He said it’s going to devastate him if his kids are going to find out.”
Peled said Maund, and Brockway went to Nashville themselves “to solve the problem.”
“What was (Brockway’s) proposal?” the prosecutor asked Peled.
“He proposed to, in his words, to take Mr. Lanway out,” Peled testified.
He testified that he expected Maund to reject the idea, but instead Maund “jumped on the offer.” Maund agreed to pay $100,000 each to Brockway
and Carey. He also paid $550,000 to Peled, according to court documents.
Brockway fatally shot Lanway in the parking lot of Williams’ apartment complex, and Carey killed Williams after driving to the construction site and left the bodies there.
Maund was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
Carey and Brockway were both convicted of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, kidnapping resulting in death, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Maund, Brockway, and Carey face mandatory life sentences in federal prison.
They will be sentenced in separate hearings sometime in 2024.
Peled will also be sentenced in 2024 where U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. will take his cooperation into consideration as part of his sentence.
Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj
Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com
The latest on Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK’s Unconfessed Crimes, Delphi Murders: Inside the Crime, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Malevolent Mormon Mommys, Justice for Harmony Montgomery, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com