Texas Husband Accused of Paying $750k to Murder Blackmailing Mistress and BF, Leaving 5-Star Google Review for Hitman Company

On Monday, Erik Charles Maund, along with three others, was charged in the murder of Holly Williams, 33, and William Lanway, 36, whose bodies were discovered shot dead in a crashed car in Nashville almost 21 months ago.

Prosecutors believe all four were involved in an elaborate murder-for-hire scheme that involved an affair, attempted extortion, kidnapping... and apparently one very positive online review.

The bizarre case kicked off on March 12, 2020, when a construction worker came across a 2005 white Acura sedan that had crashed on a dirt road off Old Hickory Boulevard: the car had gone off the construction road, traveled down an embankment and struck a tree. Both airbags had deployed:

But both deceased occupants had been shot dead: investigators determined they were an estranged couple, who had been involved in a number of domestic violence incidents. Lanway had been arrested for aggravated assault and false imprisonment for attacking Williams just eight days earlier; Williams also had an order of protection against him, after he was arrested for punching her the December previous.

For almost two years the double homicide remained unsolved — but on Monday, a federal indictment was unsealed, claiming the former couple had been killed by members of SpearTip, a security company based in Austin, Texas, and hired to do so by Maund after the pair threatened to expose his affair.

According to the indictment Maund, a partner in Austin's Maund Automotive Group and grandson of founder Charles Maund, sometimes travelled to Nashville to visit a relative. In early February 2020, he emailed Holly Williams, with whom he had had a prior relationship, asking to meet up when he visited on February 5-7.

But on March 1 after returning home, Maund, who is married, began receiving a series of text messages from a man — later identified as William Lanway — who also had a personal romantic relationship with Williams; he demanded payment and threatened to expose Maund's relationship with Williams if he did not receive it.

Per the indictment, Maund then enlisted the services of Gilad Peled, 47-year-old owner of SpearTip Security who claimed to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as two former active-duty Marines: Bryon Brockway, 46, from Austin, and Adam Carey, 30, from Richlands, North Carolina (left to right):

Investigators claim that on March 5, Maund withdrew $15,000 from his bank — the same day an "intelligence report" was prepared and provided to Peled by a relative of Brockway's, who worked for a cyber security firm.

The indictment says Carey began flying in and out of Nashville to surveil Williams and Lanway, obtaining details about her car and address, and confirming the two lived together; Peled was assured the team would "use everything at their disposal to stop the attempted extortion of Maund."

On March 12, Maund transferred $150,000, via wire, from his bank account to a bank account controlled by Peled, the indictment says. That same day, Brockway and Carey, armed with firearms, confronted Williams and Lanway in the parking lot of Williams' apartment complex in West Nashville and murdered Lanway by shooting him multiple times, according to the document.

It says they then kidnapped Williams and drove her and Lanway's body to the construction site, where they murdered Williams, also shooting her several times.

The bodies were then discarded at the construction site and within hours of the murders, the Pinger account they had set up to communicate was deleted, and a rental car rented by Brockway was returned, the indictment alleges.

Carey then drove Brockway to Memphis, where Brockway caught a flight to Austin, while Carey then drove to Austin from Memphis.

The indictment alleges that since March 11, 2020, Maund transferred in excess of $750,000, via wire, from his bank account to an account controlled by Peled, as payment to the trio for the kidnapping and murders of Williams and Lanway.

On Friday, Metropolitan Nashville PD detectives and FBI agents arrested all four individuals across several states; Maund was arrested after a traffic stop near Austin, Texas; Peled was arrested at the airport in Austin, Texas; Brockway was arrested in San Diego, California; while Carey was arrested at his home in North Carolina.

All four 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.

In a final bizarre twist to the case before it goes to court, on December 7, three days before the arrests, a Google user by the name of Erik Maund left a glowing review for SpearTip Security Group.

"Speartip is very professional and on top of it," he wrote. "They get the job done in an expedited time. Couldn't imagine using anyone else!!"

"Thank you for the kind words," the owner replied. "Always a pleasure working with you."