Businessman Erik Maund’s sick $700k murder-for-hire plot to kill ex-lover Holly Williams & blackmailer William Lanway
A BUSINESSMAN convicted of plotting the murders of his lover and her boyfriend was found to have paid over $750,000 before the sick crimes were carried out.
Erik Maund was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the deaths of Holly Williams and her partner William Lanway in 2020.
On March 12, 2020, Williams, 33, was found shot dead in a 2005 white Acura sedan in Nashville, Tennessee.
After searching the area, police then found Lanway's body, which had suffered from similar injuries.
During their investigation, detectives discovered Williams was having an affair with Maund, a married businessman, for months.
Authorities claim that Lanway attempted to extort Maund for $25,000 and threatened to expose his affair with Williams to his family.
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A year after the murders, on December 10, 2021, Maund was arrested for conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death, and carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during and with a crime of violence.
Police found that Maund had worked with Gilad Peled, Byron Brockway, and Adam Carey, who were taken into custody for the same charges.
A TRIP TO NASHVILLE
Maund hailed from a wealthy family, known for running Maund Automobile Group, around Texas.
The business man, who worked in the family dealership, lived in a 10-bathroom, $5 million home that was in front of the sixth hole at Austin Country Club.
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In January 2020, while Maund was visiting his son in Nashville, Tennessee he began a relationship with Williams, who was an aesthetician and escort at the time.
The two used aliases when speaking to each other, with Williams referring to herself as "Layla Love" and Maund going by “Erik Moore."
At the time, William's was in a tumultuous relationship with Lanway.
She called the police on her-then boyfriend a number of times during their relationship and in January 2020, Williams alleged that Lanway had tried to strangle her.
“She stated she thought he might kill her,” a police report said.
He “was telling her to ‘be quiet’ and ‘this only happened because you tried to run away,'" it added.
Maund and Williams quickly hit it off after their first meeting. Court documents revealed that Maund planned to return to Nashville after their first encounter.
However, the good times would not last long for the couple.
On March 1 of that year, Maund would receive a text message from Lanway demanding thousands of dollars from him, in order to keep his affair private.
Lanway had found Maund's cellphone number and traced it back to his family's auto company, which revealed both his identity and his wealth.
MURDER-FOR-HIRE
A few weeks after communicating with Lanway, it was revealed that on March 11, Maund transferred over $750,000 to an account controlled by Peled, who owns the Austin-based private security firm, Speartip Security Group.
Peled, who received a plea deal, had previously testified that he initially told Maund he could gather information on Lanway and take the case to the police.
However Maund turned his idea down, as he didn't want to get police involved.
Peled still went ahead and planned to take a team of security professionals, including, Brockway and Carey to Nashville.
The goal was to gather information about Lanway's extortion and push Maund to take the information to law enforcement.
However, Brockway later proposed that the team instead kill the victims for $100,000 each.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire questioned why Peled didn't reject the offer.
“I should have,” Peled said, adding he was surprised that Maund allegedly agreed to the offer.
“I’m sorry. I’ll regret that for the rest of my life. But I didn’t.”
THE MURDER OF HOLLY AND WILLIAM
On March 11, Brockway and Carey had confronted Lanway and Williams in their apartment's parking lot, according to the indictment.
Lanway was killed in the parking lot, however, Williams was found in a construction site.
Both men were allegedly armed, but it is not clear who shot the individuals.
In December 2021, a year after the murders, Maund was arrested driving home from a hunting trip.
The police had planned surprise takedown, swarming the killer with state troopers along Interstate 35.
Brockway and Carey would be arrested around the same time.
Peled later pleaded guilty to murder for hire, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death.
On November 17 2023, a jury Brockway and Carey guilty of murder-for-hire resulting in death, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and kidnapping resulting in death following a 14-day trial.
Maund was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire but not guilty of kidnapping resulting in death.
Because of the gravity of their crimes, all three criminals are facing a mandatory life sentence and will have separate hearings this year.
As per ABC News, Maund's legal team intends to seek out an appeal on the verdict.
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The statement read: "Erik Maund is not guilty of the charges in the indictment.
"Mr. Maund and counsel intend to pursue appeals on the remaining charge for which the jury returned a guilty verdict."