Editor’s note: The above video shows KXAN Live’s top morning headlines for Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two Austin residents will stand trial next month for their alleged roles in the 2020 kidnapping and murder of a Tennessee couple.
Erik Charles Maund, 48, a former partner with the Austin-area Maund Automotive Group, faces felony charges of murder for hire, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and kidnapping resulting in death.
Co-defendants Bryon Brockway, 48, of Austin, and Adam Carey, 32, of Richlands, North Carolina, both face the same charges as Maund. The FBI identified both men as former active-duty members of the U.S. Marine Corps; Brockway served in the Force Recon unit and Carey in the Special Operations Group.
A fourth defendant, Gilad Peled, entered a plea deal in December 2022, which, according to online records, the court accepted. He is scheduled for a sentencing hearing in December 2023. According to the FBI, Peled “held himself out to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces.”
According to the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI, Maund allegedly paid Brockway, Carey and Peled around $750,000 to kidnap and murder Nashville residents Holly Williams and William Lanway after Lanway attempted to extort Maund over details about Maund’s alleged relationship with Williams.
Williams and Lanway were killed on March 12, 2020. According to reporting by Nexstar station WKRN, their bodies were discovered by a worker at a Nashville construction site on March 13, 2020.
On December 10, 2021, FBI agents arrested Maund, Brockway, Carey and Peled, charging them in connection with the deaths of Williams and Lanway.
If convicted, Maund, Brockway and Carey could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury trial will be held at the federal courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, before U.S. District Court Judge William L. Campbell, Jr.
KXAN reached out to the defendants’ attorneys for comment on the case.