A Texas auto dealer and two men who served in the U.S. Marine Corps face life in federal prison following their convictions in the shooting deaths of a former couple found dead in a car at a Tennessee construction site in 2020.
The charges in the case first came down in December 2021 and an indictment followed in July 2022. Now Erik Charles Maund, 48, who was a car dealer at Maund Automotive Group in Austin, Bryon Brockway, 48, and Adam Carey, 32, were each convicted Friday of a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the deaths of Holly Williams, 33, and William Lanway, 36.
Although Maund was acquitted of kidnapping, unlike co-defendants Carey and Brockway, all three still face a mandatory life sentence under the federal murder-for-hire resulting in death statute:
(a) Whoever travels in or causes another (including the intended victim) to travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or uses or causes another (including the intended victim) to use the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce, with intent that a murder be committed […] and if death results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment, or shall be fined not more than $250,000, or both.
At the start of the case, authorities said that they believed the victims, whose bodies were found in Nashville on March 13, 2020, in a car that had gone off a road, were killed as part of the married Maund’s larger effort to cover up an affair with Holly Williams, an encounter Lanway — Williams’ former boyfriend — had threatened to expose.
According to the Department of Justice, Maund was “married, living in Austin, Texas, [and] a partner in Maund Automotive Group” and had emailed Holly Williams before he traveled to Nashville, where she lived. Maund and Williams, who according to the indictment “had a prior relationship,” made plans to meet at the hotel where Maund was staying.
Holly Williams, Erik Maund, William Lanway (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)
“Good day beautiful!” one of Maund’s emails said. “Looking forward to [sic] later. I’m in Nashville. I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive.”
Almost a month later, on March 1, 2020, Maund started receiving text messages from Lanway, according to the indictment. Lanway had apparently threatened to expose Maund’s relationship with Williams, and demanded money in exchange for keeping quiet.
That day, Maund reached out to Gilad Peled, another defendant who “held himself out as a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces.” Peled took a plea deal in the prosecution at the end of 2022.
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After Maund enlisted the aid of Peled, Brockway, and Carey, the victims were surveilled over a period of days. On March 12, 2020, Williams and Lanway were shot to death.
“On that same day, Brockway and Carey, while armed with firearms, confronted H.W. and W.L. in the parking lot of H.W.’s apartment complex in Nashville and murdered W.L. by shooting him multiple times,” the indictment said. “They then kidnapped H.W. and drove her and the body of W.L. to a construction site on Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville, where they murdered H.W. by shooting her several times. The bodies were then discarded at the construction site and within hours of the murders, the Pinger account used to communicate was deleted and a rental car rented by Brockway was returned.”
Nashville police described Williams and Lanway as having had a “personal romantic relationship,” but reports said they were estranged: Lanway was reportedly arrested in early March of 2020 on charges related to attacking Williams, and Williams had reportedly obtained an order of protection against Lanway.
Bryon Brockway, Adam Carey (Metro Nashville PD)
According to the indictment, Maund wired more than $750,000 to an account controlled by Peled, as payment to Peled, Brockway, and Carey for the kidnapping and murder of Williams and Lanway.
Following the guilty verdicts, U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis called the murders “heinous” crimes.
“Almost three and half years after the murders of Holly Williams and William Lanway, these defendants have finally been held accountable for their heinous actions,” Leventis said. “Today’s verdict is a testament to the outstanding investigative work done in this case by the FBI and Metro Nashville Police Department as well as the trial team’s incredible job presenting the government’s case to the jury.”
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Marisa Sarnoff and Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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