Erik Charles Maund: Business Executive Kills Escort and Her Boyfriend Who Attempted to Blackmail Him

In March 2020, a horrifying crime shocked the city of Nashville, Tennessee. 

The lifeless bodies of a couple, William "Bill" Lanway and Holly Williams, were found in a car that had crashed into a tree at a construction site. 

As investigators started to piece together what happened before the tragic discovery, they found a complex and sinister plot.

William "Bill" Lanway and Holly Williams

Background Information

Bill Lanway, 36, and Holly Williams, 33, were a couple whose lives took a tragic turn in early March 2020.

Bill was quite popular in the Nashville area, while Holly was known for her work as an escort under the name Leila Love.

In early February 2020, their paths crossed with Erik Charles Maund.

Maund was an auto dealer executive from Austin, Texas, and he was in Nashville at the time.

Unknown to his family and colleagues, Maund had secretly arranged to meet Holly for escort services during his visit.

Maund’s secret rendezvous with Holly set off a chain of events that would ultimately lead to the double murder of Holly and Bill. 

Erik Charles Maund

How Erik Maund's Rendezvous Led to Murder

On March 12, 2020, Nashville police found a car that had rolled down a hill and crashed into a tree at a construction site. 

Inside the vehicle, they found the bodies of Bill Lanway and Holly Williams. 

Both had been shot multiple times in what appeared to be a cold-blooded execution. 

The investigation quickly revealed that this was no random act of violence; it was a meticulously planned and executed murder.

The story began on March 1, 2020.

Erik Maund received a text message from an unknown individual who claimed to know about his affair with Holly. 

The sender demanded $25,000 in exchange for keeping Monde's secret.

The individual threatened to expose his infidelity to his wife if he didn't comply. 

The blackmailer was later identified as Bill Lanway, Holly’s boyfriend.

Rather than giving in to the blackmail, Maund decided to take drastic action. 

He enlisted the help of three men to silence Bill and Holly permanently. 

These men were Gilad Peled, a former "fixer" turned security company owner; Adam Carey, a former Marine; and Bryon Brockway, another former Marine. 

Together, they concocted a plan to eliminate the threat to Maund’s reputation.

The car where the victims were found

Investigation

As investigators began to piece together the evidence, they uncovered a trail that led them from Nashville to Austin, Texas. 

The investigation revealed that on March 5, 2020, just a week before Bill and Holly’s bodies were discovered, Maund had withdrawn $15,000 from his bank account. 

This money was used to finance the murder plot.

Further investigations revealed that the three hitmen conducted surveillance on Bill and Holly in the days leading up to the murder.

They used a texting app, Pinger, to communicate with the victims and track their movements. 

On the night of the murder, Carey and Brockway confronted Bill and Holly outside their apartment. 

Bill was shot multiple times before Holly was abducted.

Her and Bill’s lifeless bodies were then driven to a construction site in Nashville.

There, Holly was also killed, and their bodies were left in the crashed car.

Justice Served

The investigation concluded with the arrests of Erik Maund, Gilad Peled, Adam Carey, and Brian Brockway in December 2021.

Their arrest came more than a year after the murders. 

FBI agents, working with Metro Nashville police, arrested the suspects across several states. 

Maund was arrested during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas

Peled was taken into custody at an Austin airport. 

Brockway was arrested in San Diego, California, and Carey was arrested at his home in North Carolina.

When questioned by the FBI, Monde initially pretended not to understand why he was being investigated. 

However, the strong evidence against him, including audio recordings and surveillance footage, left little doubt about his involvement in the murders.

Erik Charles Maund, was convicted by a federal jury in November 2023 for his role in a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the deaths of Holly Williams and William Lanway. 

Maund was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, but not guilty of kidnapping resulting in death. 

He and two of the men he hired, Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey, face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

The jury convicted Brockway and Carey on all charges, including kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. 

A fourth co-defendant, Gilad Peled, pled guilty to three charges in December 2022.

Maund was accused of paying Peled, Brockway, and Carey around $750,000 to kidnap and murder Holly Williams, and her boyfriend, William Lanway.

Sentencing for Maund, Brockway, and Carey is pending. 

They face up to life in prison if convicted.

Here’s a longer video from Law and Crime with a deeper analysis of the case.

In a separate case, a 23-year-old was sentenced for murdering his cousin and disposing of her body in a dumpster. 

Despite his conviction, her body remains missing. 

Click here for more details on the case.