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Austin businessman Erik Charles Maund faces new charges, accused of plotting murder behind bars

Erik Charles Maund was indicted in December for his involvement in a plot to kidnap and murder a man and woman in Tennessee.

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin businessman Erik Charles Maund is facing new charges in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, KVUE Senior Reporter Tony Plohetski has confirmed.

In December 2021, Maund was indicted for conspiring with three other men to kidnap and murder a man and woman in Tennessee. 

Maund is the grandson of Charles Maund and a former partner of Maund Automotive Group, a car dealer in Austin that now sells Volkswagen cars.

Plohetski confirmed Thursday that federal officials now say Maund tried to arrange the murder of one of his co-defendants from behind bars after his arrest in December.

According to a federal indictment obtained by the KVUE Defenders in December, Maund frequently travels to Nashville to visit a relative. In February 2020, Maund began texting Holly Williams, 33, whom he previously had a relationship with, ahead of a visit. That woman's estranged boyfriend, 36-year-old William Lanway, found out and began demanding money from Erik Charles Maund, the indictment alleges.

Lanway allegedly threatened to expose Maund's relationship with Williams if the executive didn't pay him.

The estranged couple were found dead in a car in Nashville, Tennessee, on the morning of March 12, 2020.

Court documents show the couple was kidnapped and shot to death before their bodies were left in a car near a construction site. According to a press release from the government of Nashville, their bodies were discovered by a construction worker.

Federal authorities had been investigating the case ever since, which culminated in connecting Erik Charles Maund to three other men – including two from Austin – who investigators allege carried out the crime.

According to the December indictment, Gilad Peled, Bryon Brockway and Adam Carey traveled to Nashville to kidnap, threaten and intimidate Williams and Lanway. The indictment stated Maund paid the three men more than $750,000 for the kidnapping and murder.

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