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(Tribune News Service) — A notable Texas businessman is accused of paying $750,000 to two former Marines and a proclaimed ex-Israeli Defense Force soldier to have his ex-lover and her boyfriend killed, federal officials announced Dec. 13.
Erik Maund, a 46-year-old Austin, Texas, resident and a partner of the Maund Automotive Group, is charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death, among other charges, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said.
Three other men are facing those charges as well: proclaimed ex Israeli Defense Force soldier Gilad Peled, 47; former Marine Bryon Brockway, 46; both of Austin; and 30-year-old former Marine Adam Carey, of Richlands, N.C., according to the release.
Maund, Peled, Brockway and Carey could not be reached for comment on Monday, Dec. 13, and information regarding their defense attorneys was not immediately available.
According to the federal indictment, which was just unsealed, the complex murder-for-hire plot came in response to another scheme hatched against Maund.
In early February 2020, Maund reached out to a 33-year-old Nashville woman named Holly Williams, whom he had a past relationship with, feds say. Maund sometimes went to Nashville on business and asked Williams to meet with him, since he was going to be in town.
About a month later, the blackmailing began. Maund received text messages demanding money, promising to “expose his relationship” with Williams if he didn’t.
Williams’ boyfriend, 36-year-old William Lanway, had sent the texts, the release said.
It’s not said how much hush money was demanded. But soon, Maund got in touch with Gilad Peled, a proclaimed ex Israeli Defense Force soldier, and owner of Austin-based Speartip Security.
Brockway, who served in a “Special Operations capable unit” of the Marine Corps, and Carey, a former member of the Corps’ Special Operations Group, were also brought on board, feds said.
Over the next several days, the trio traveled to Nashville, Tenn., gathering information on Williams and Lanway and surveilling them at their homes. By March 9, just eight days after the blackmail texts arrived, the men Maund hired had compiled a report titled “Tennessee Sitrep,” sharing what they had learned and stating they “would use everything at their disposal to stop the attempted extortion of Maund.”
On March 12, $150,000 showed up in Peled’s bank account, transferred from Maund, feds said. Later that day, Carey and Brockway armed themselves and took action, confronting Williams and Lanway in the parking lot of Williams’ apartment complex.
They shot Lanway “multiple times,” killing him; forced Williams into a vehicle along with Lanway’s body; and drove to a construction site, officials said. There they shot Williams dead and discarded the bodies at the site and left, the release said.
Between March 11 and now, Maund is accused of transferring $750,000 into a bank account belonging to Peled.
“This investigation began with the discovery of two bodies inside a vehicle on Good Friday 2020,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a news release. “Outstanding investigative work … 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.”
Ultimately, the men were arrested across three states: Maund and Peled in Texas, Brockway in California and Carey in North Carolina.
If found guilty, they could face life in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office release said.
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