Erik Maund arrested

Weeks after Erik Maund had an affair with a woman in Nashville, he received a text message threatening to expose his adulterous acts, investigators say. The man on the other end was the woman’s boyfriend — he knew everything, and he wanted Maund to pay for his silence, according to a federal indictment.

But Maund decided to do something else instead: He paid to have the pair killed, prosecutors say.

The woman, Holly Williams, and her boyfriend, William Lanway, were shot dead on March 12, 2020, according to police.

On Friday, Maund and the three men he is accused of paying $750,000 to kill the Nashville couple were arrested on kidnapping, murder and gun charges.

In a statement to the Austin American-Statesman, Maund’s attorneys Perry Minton and Sam Bassett said they “have spoken to Mr. Maund only briefly on the matter.”

“We will understand more in the coming days and weeks,” they added. “The entire Maund family loves and supports their son.”

Court documents do not list lawyers for the other three defendants, who remain in federal custody.

A Michigan woman tried to hire an assassin online at RentAHitman.com. Now, she’s going to prison.

Maund, a 46-year-old married auto dealer from Austin, traveled to Nashville a few times a year to visit a relative, prosecutors said. As he prepared for his trip in early February 2020, Maund reached out to Williams, an old romantic acquaintance, asking her to meet up while he was in town, according to the indictment.

On Feb. 5, Maund allegedly texted Williams, 33, again, noting he was looking forward to being with her that night.

“Good day beautiful! … I’m in Nashville,” he said, according to court documents. “I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive.”

On March 1, Maund began receiving threatening text messages. Lanway, 36, was in a romantic relationship with Williams and wanted Maund to pay him not to expose the affair, prosecutors said.

That same day, Maund “communicated multiple times” with Gilad Peled, the owner of Austin-based firm Speartip Security. According to the indictment, the company advertised “responding to extortion demands” on its website. Peled, 47, said he was a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces and the Mossad intelligence agency.

On March 5, an unnamed accomplice gave Peled an “Intelligence Report” on Williams, the indictment said. Maund is accused of withdrawing $15,000 from his Bank of America account that day. The money eventually made its way into Peled’s personal and business bank accounts, according to prosecutors.

Peled is accused of sending Adam Carey, a 30-year-old from Richlands, N.C., who served in the U.S. Marine Corps’s Special Operations group, to Nashville on March 7 to surveil Williams and Lanway.

Carey sent a report two days later, the indictment says. It included Williams’s address and vehicle information and confirmed that Lanway had been staying in her apartment.

“[The report] advised that Adam Carey and others would use ‘everything at our disposal to include, intimidation …’ to stop the attempted extortion,” the indictment says.

Carey and other unnamed accomplices tried to contact Williams and Lanway on March 10, prosecutors said. They showed up at Williams’s apartment, but the attempt to speak with her was “unsuccessful,” according to court documents. That day, they also allegedly tailed Lanway in a grocery store but did not approach him directly.

Carey received additional help the following day when Bryon Brockway, 46, arrived from Austin. According to the indictment, Brockway owns a security company and served in the Marine Corps’s Force Reconnaissance.

On March 12, Carey and Brockway are accused of confronting Williams and Lanway in the parking lot of Williams’s apartment complex. Prosecutors said they shot Lanway multiple times, including twice in the head.

They then forced Williams into her 2005 Acura sedan, the indictment says, and drove her to a construction site with Lanway’s body in the car. Once they arrived, Carey and Brockway shot Williams “multiple times including a shot to the head near her right temple,” the indictment says.

The next day, Carey and Brockway drove to Memphis, where Brockway got on a flight to Austin, the indictment says. Carey then drove to Austin.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department found the bodies on April 10, 2020, Police Chief John Drake said in a news release.

Since March 11, 2020, Maund paid “in excess of $750,000″ to Peled, Brockway and Carey for “the kidnapping and murder” of Williams and Lanway, the indictment says.

Federal agents and Nashville police detectives arrested all four men on Friday, according to a news release from federal prosecutors. Maund was arrested in a traffic stop in Austin, Peled at the Austin airport, Brockway in San Diego, and Carey at his home in North Carolina.

All four men will be transferred to Nashville, prosecutors said. It is unclear when they are due in court.

They are charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death, and carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. If found guilty, they face life sentences.