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Austin car dealer murder-for-hire suspect caught after he wrote a positive internet review for one of the alleged hitmen

From left to right, Gilad Peled, Erik Charles Maund, Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey are all in custody. (Nashville Police Department)
Erik Charles Maund of Maund Automotive Group, who was arrested this week after allegedly hiring a contract killer to murder his ex-girlfriend and her former boyfriend, left a positive review for the business of one of the men that was hired just days before he was caught.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Maund, who is married, reached out to his ex, 33-year-old Holly Williams, about visiting on his upcoming trip to Nashville in February 2020. Upon hearing of the messages, Williams’ estranged boyfriend, 36-year-old William Lanway, allegedly messaged Maund asking for hush money and threatening to expose the relationship if it wasn’t received. A month later on March 12, 2020, Williams and Lanway were found dead at a Nashville construction site in a white 2005 Acura.
Maund allegedly hired three men to see the crime through: 47-year-old Gilad Peled, owner of Austin-based Speartip Security Services, 46-year-old Bryon Brockway and North Carolina native Adam Carey. Since the killings, both someone by the name of "Erik Maund" and Bryon Brockway left five-star reviews for Speartip.
Both reviews are still up on the security provider's Google page. Maund has since been charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death; carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
Peled, a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, advertised helping clients respond to threats of extortion, armed guard protection, VIP and executive protection, armored vehicle services and special event security. Brockway and Carey were both former special operations U.S. Marines.
According to the DOJ, Maund took $15,000 out of his account at the same time an “intelligence report” was delivered to Peled, and Carey and Brockway headed to Nashville to get eyes on the couple. After an alleged promise from Peled to stop the extortion, the indictment said Maund wired $750,000 to an account owned by Peled.
Lanway had a criminal history
After reaching out to Williams during his Nashville trip, Maund was contacted by Lanway threatening to expose his affair if he didn't send cash on March 1, 2020. Lanway and Williams had an abusive relationship—court records show that Williams had called the police on Lanway at least three times in the year prior to their deaths.
Lanway was charged with domestic assault and vandalism in April 2019 after hitting Williams and damaging her car, reportedly tried to strangle her in January 2020 for which he was charged with aggravated assault by strangulation with intent to kill and false imprisonment. Just four days later, Williams called the police on Lanway for kidnapping and killing her dog. He was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.
Holly Williams
William Lanway
On March 9, Carey and Brockway reported that they learned where the couple lived and their usual routes. Nashville Police said three men were captured on video outside the couples’ apartment a few days before their deaths.
Despite the inter-relationship issues, Lanway and Williams were confronted together by Carey and Brockway outside his apartment complex on March 11, 2020. According to the indictment, Lanway was shot multiple times and killed in the parking lot.
The indictment states that Williams was kidnapped, taking along Lanway's body, and killed off a road near a construction lot.
(Nashville Police Department)
The defendants face life in prison
The arrest affidavit states that Lanway and Williams were both shot in the head, dropped at the construction site and discovered by a worker on the morning of March 13, 2020.
After the positive reviews were left on Speartip Security Services on Dec. 7, all four men were arrested.
Peled and Brockway received the same charges as Maund, arrested at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and San Diego, respectively. Carey was arrested at his out-of-state home.
Maund Automotive Group representatives have not said whether or not Maund is still involved with the company. Maund’s attorneys, Perry Minton and Sam Bassett, said in a statement on Monday: "We have spoken to Mr. Maund only briefly on the matter. We will understand more in the coming days and weeks. The entire Maund family loves and supports their son."
The defendants face up to life in prison in the event they are convicted.
Federal prosecutors are asking that Maund not be released on bond, with documents showing he is a flight risk and could “attempt to obstruct justice.” According to KVUE reporter Tony Plohetski, a hearing is set for Thursday.
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Popular
(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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