A married Texas car dealership heir was found guilty of a sinister murder-for-hire plot to kill a sex worker and her boyfriend after they attempted to blackmail him, according to authorities. The married man allegedly hired a retired Israeli Defense Force soldier and two retired U.S. Marines to kill the blackmailers.
Erik Charles Maund, 48, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, following an 11-day trial. The jury cleared Maund of kidnapping-related charges.
Maund – an heir to a lucrative car dealership in Austin – reportedly paid $750,000 to two ex-Marines and a former Israel Defense Forces soldier to kill Holly Williams and her boyfriend, William Lanway, in 2020.
Williams, 33, and Lanway, 36, were both found in an Acura that had veered off a road, plummeted down an embankment, and into a tree in Nashville, Tennessee. The car was found at a construction site, and both victims had gunshot wounds in their heads, according to investigators.
Maund allegedly had an extramarital affair with Williams, who was a sex worker. Maund reportedly received anonymous texts threatening to expose his affair with Williams unless he paid $25,000. The blackmail texts were purportedly sent by Lanway in March 2020.
In response, Maund hired retired IDF soldier Gilad Peled to find out who was blackmailing him and paid him $60,000.
“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,” Peled testified in court, according to Fox News.
“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 added.
Peled allegedly advised Maund to inform law enforcement about the blackmail scheme.
Peled said, “He was reluctant (to go to the police). 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 recruited former Marines – Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey – to go to Nashville and conduct surveillance on Williams and Lanway. However, the group did not make any contact with their targets after 10 days, according to Peled.
Lanway then reportedly called Maund’s home, which “freaked out” the car dealership heir. Lanway allegedly demanded Maund pay him $25,000 by 8 p.m. on March 11, 2020.
Brockway reportedly proposed to “take Mr. Lanway out,” which Maund allegedly “jumped on the offer.”
According to court documents, Maund paid $100,000 each to Brockway and Carey, plus $550,000 to Peled.
Peled testified that Brockway instructed him to “get rid of your phone,” which he understood that he had killed Lanway.
Brockway fatally shot Lanway in the parking lot of Williams’ apartment complex, and Carey murdered Williams after driving to the construction site, according to court documents.
On Nov. 17, Carey and Brockway were each convicted of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, kidnapping resulting in death, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. They both face a mandatory life in prison or the death penalty when they are sentenced in 2024.
“We are committed to aggressively prosecuting violent crime in Middle Tennessee, and I am very pleased that the men responsible for these murders have finally been held accountable for their deplorable actions,” U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis declared in a statement.
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