Texas businessman with automotive links arranged contract killings of Tennessee couple, federal prosecutors say

An Austin businessman connected to the auto industry enlisted the help of three men to surveil, kidnap and kill a Nashville woman and her partner, according to an indictment unsealed Monday by federal prosecutors.

Erik Charles Maund, 46, paid the three men a number of sums — including one of roughly $750,000 — to carry out the March 2020 murders of the couple, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Prosecutors said Maund is a partner in Maund Automotive Group, which has a Toyota dealership and a Volkswagen dealership operating under the Maund name in Austin. The Austin-American Statesman reported Erik Maund is the grandson of Charles Maund, who started Maund Automobile Group in the area in 1957.

When reached by phone Tuesday, representatives at Charles Maund Toyota and Charles Maund Volkswagen declined to comment and declined to direct Automotive News to any officials who could comment. It is unclear whether Erik Maund still has a role in the organization.

FBI agents and Metropolitan Nashville Police detectives arrested Maund on Friday. They also arrested the three men Maund allegedly hired for the hits — Austin residents Gilad Peled, 47, and Bryon Brockway, 46; and Adam Carey, 30, a resident of Richlands, N.C.

The four were 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." They face up to life in prison if convicted.

Maund is being represented by Austin-based attorneys Perry Minton and Samuel Bassett, according to the Statesman.

"We have spoken to Mr. Maund only briefly on the matter," Minton and Bassett said in a Monday statement to the newspaper. "We will understand more in the coming days and weeks. The entire Maund family loves and supports their son."

Prosecutors said the kidnapping conspiracy came about shortly after Maund traveled to Nashville in early February 2020. Maund often took trips to the city to visit a relative, according to the indictment.

Maund arranged to meet with Holly Williams, 33, during that early February trip, according to the indictment. Maund had a "prior relationship" with Williams, according to the indictment, which also said Maund was married at the time.

On Feb. 5, he allegedly sent the following text to her: "Good day beautiful! Looking forward to later. I'm in Nashville. I'll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive."

The following month, a person claiming to be her partner — identified as William Lanway, 36 — texted Maund, threatening to expose the relationship unless Maund paid him money, prosecutors said.

Peled, Brockway and Carey agreed to try stopping the extortion attempt, according to the indictment.

Peled owned Speartip Security, a security firm in Austin that advertised services for responding to extortion demands, the indictment said. According to prosecutors, Peled was once part of the Israeli Defense Forces, while Brockway and Carey are former active-duty Marines. Brockway owned Ink Force — another security company in Austin — and Carey worked as an independent contractor for other security companies, the indictment said.

An unnamed person sent Peled an "intelligence report" about Williams on March 5, the indictment said. According to the document, Maund withdrew $15,000 from his Bank of America account that day. Two sums totaling that amount were later deposited into Peled's personal and business bank accounts, the indictment said.

During the first half of March, Carey surveilled Williams and Lanway, prosecutors said. He attempted to communicate with the pair via the communications app Pinger and went so far as to find both her address and vehicle, according to the indictment.

Peled received a document, called "Tennessee Sitrep," with that information, the indictment said.

Things came to a head on March 12, when Maund transferred $150,000 via wire from his Bank of America account to a J.P. Morgan account controlled by Peled, the indictment said.

Later that day, Brockway and Carey confronted Williams and Lanway in the parking lot of Williams' apartment complex, the indictment said. According to the document, the men shot and killed Lanway in the parking lot, then drove Williams to a Nashville construction site, where they also shot and killed her. Their bodies were left there, the indictment said.

According to the indictment, Brockway rented a vehicle from Hertz on March 11 and used it to meet up with Carey, then returned it on March 13.

The four went their separate ways, prosecutors said, and Maund allegedly transferred "in excess" of $750,000 from his bank account to Peled's to pay for the contract killings.