AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- A former Austin auto dealer executive allegedly involved in a murder-for-hire plot against a Nashville couple is facing an additional charge for allegedly trying to have one of his co-conspirators killed, federal officials announced Thursday.
A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment Monday in the case involving 47-year old Erik Charles Maund, 48-year old Gilad Peled, and 47-year old Bryon Brockway, all from Austin, along with 31-year old Adam Carey of Richlands, North Carolina. All four men are charged with murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap resulting in death, and kidnapping resulting in death.
According to police, the charges are in connection with the deaths of 33-year old Holly Williams and her estranged boyfriend, 36-year old William Lanway. The couple were found shot to death in Williams' crashed Acura sedan in March of 2020.
Related
Maund, a former partner in the Austin-based Maund Automotive Group, is accused of paying $750,000 to Peled, Brockway, and Carey to kidnap and murder Williams and Lanway, after Lanway attempted to extort Maund by threatening to expose a relationship between Maund and Williams.
The new indictment returned on Monday, according to the Department of Justice, also alleges that Maund agreed to pay one of his co-conspirators an additional $25,000 and then offered Peled $50,000 to arrange to pay Brockway $100,000 for the murder of the co-conspirator, to cut off any future requests for payment for the original murders.
Maund, Peled, Brockway and Carey were arrested in December 2021, and remain in custody as of Thursday's announcement. If convicted, the men face life in prison, officials said.