Background

It does not take a lot these days to lose one’s life.

Or to fall into the hands of the wrong crowd.

Or be accused when you are totally innocent.

 

Stories

Justice Department

Texas Automobile Dealer And Former U.S. Military Soldiers And Purported Former IDF Member Charged In Kidnapping Conspiracy

Victims Kidnapped and Murdered in Nashville in Retaliation for Attempted Extortion

Link

NASHVILLE – A federal indictment unsealed today charges three Texas men and one North Carolina man with a kidnapping conspiracy which resulted in the murder of two individuals on March 12, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee.

In making the announcement, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee, Douglas M. Korneski, Special Agent in Charge of the Memphis Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake commended the tremendous collaborative efforts of the agents, detectives, and prosecutors which led to the indictment.

The three-count indictment charges the following individuals with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death, and carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence:

Erik Charles Maund, 46, of Austin, Texas, a partner in Maund Automotive Group in Austin, Texas; Gilad Peled, 47, of Austin, Texas, who held himself out to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces and owner of Speartip Security in Austin, Texas; Bryon Brockway, 46, of Austin, Texas, a former active-duty United States Marine who previously served in Force Recon, a Special Operations Capable unit, and owner of Ink Force LLC, also a security company in Austin; and Adam Carey, 30, of Richlands, North Carolina, a former active duty United States Marine who had previously served in the Marine Corps’ Special Operations Group.

According to the indictment, Maund sometimes traveled to Nashville to visit a relative and in early February 2020, he emailed a woman (H.W.) with whom he had had a prior relationship, for the purpose of seeing her during his upcoming visit to Nashville on February 5-7.

After his visit to Nashville, on March 1, 2020, Maund received a series of text messages from an individual (W.L.) who had a personal romantic relationship with H.W.  W.L. demanded payment from Maund and threatened to expose his relationship with H.W. if he did not receive it.  Maund then enlisted the services of Peled, Brockway, and Carey to assist with dealing with the threats to expose his relationship with H.W. and the extortion demands.

The indictment further alleges that on March 5, 2020, Maund withdrew $15,000 from his bank account and on that same day an “intelligence report” was prepared and provided to Peled by a relative of Brockway who worked for an internet-based security company.

A series of actions were then undertaken by Carey and others, including traveling from out of state to Nashville to surveil H.W. and W.L. and creating and using a Pinger account to attempt to communicate with H.W. and L.W.  On March 9, 2020, Peled received a document entitled “Tennessee Sitrep,” which stated that Carey and others had surveilled H.W.; confirmed her address and vehicle; confirmed that W.L. had been staying at the same address; and advised that Carey and others would use everything at their disposal to stop the attempted extortion of Maund.

On March 11, 2020, Peled deposited $8,000 in cash into Speartip Security’s business account and $7,000 in cash into his personal bank account.  The following day, Maund transferred $150,000, via wire, from his bank account to a bank account controlled by Peled.  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.  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.

Carey then drove Brockway to Memphis, Tennessee, and Brockway caught a flight to Austin, Texas.  Carey then drove to Austin from Memphis.

The indictment also alleges that between March 11, 2020, and the present, Maund transferred in excess of $750,000, via wire, from his bank account to an account controlled by Peled, as payment to Peled, Brockway, and Carey for the kidnapping and murder of H.W. and W.L.

On Friday, FBI agents and Metro Nashville Police detectives orchestrated the arrests of all four individuals across several states.  Erik Maund was arrested after a traffic stop near Austin, Texas; Gilad Peled was arrested at the airport in Austin, Texas;  Bryon Brockway was arrested in San Diego, California; and Adam Carey was arrested at his home in North Carolina.

All will make an initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the District where they were arrested and will be returned to the Middle District of Tennessee at a later date for further proceedings.

If convicted, the defendants face up to life in prison.

In addition to the Memphis FBI Field Office and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, investigative and arrest assistance was provided by FBI Field Offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; San Diego, California; San Antonio, Texas; the FBI Critical Incident Response Group; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the Austin, Texas Police Department; the Williamson County, Texas Sheriff’s Department; the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina; and the Jacksonville, North Carolina Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire of the Middle District of Tennessee is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bryan Stephany of the Eastern District of North Carolina; Matt Harding of the Western District of Texas; and Derek Ko of the Southern District of California.

An indictment is merely an accusation.  The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

 

The Google – Your daily news partner

Feds say Texas car dealer hired hitmen to kill mistress and blackmailer

Link

Feds say Texas car dealer hired hitmen to kill mistress and blackmailer

“Good day beautiful!” it said, according to the indictment. “Looking forward too (sic) later. I’ll meet you in the bar like last time. Text me when you arrive.”

On March 1, 2020, Maund got a text message back from Williams’ number, but the sender was Lanway, and he wanted money, prosecutors said.

The same day, Maund reached out to Gilad Peled, 47, of Austin, “who held himself out to be a former member of the Israeli Defense Force” and owned a business called Speartip Security, prosecutors said.

“Responding to extortion demands was a service that Speartip Security advertised on their website,” the indictment says.

Maund also “enlisted” the help of ex-Marines Bryon Brockway, 46, who owned a security company in Austin, and Adam Carey, 30, of Richlands, North Carolina, prosecutors said.

Peled and Brockway did not immediately reply to requests for comment. A phone number listed in Carey’s name was disconnected.

The indictment did not describe how they were believed to be associated with Maund. It said Maund hired them either “directly or indirectly.”

The four plotted to confront the couple at the Nashville apartment complex, shoot them in their heads and dump their bodies at a construction site elsewhere in the city, prosecutors said.

Starting March 11, 2020, Maund began wiring the money from his bank account to an account controlled by Peled, prosecutors said. Williams’ and Lanway’s bodies were discovered April 10.

All four men were arrested, Nashville police said.

 

Videos

News

1. KVUE
   • Prosecutors ask Austin auto dealer charged in murder-for-hire plot not be released on bond | KVUE
     • Profile
       • Erik Charles Maund and three other men are facing a federal indictment in connection with the deaths of an estranged couple in Tennessee.
     • Videos
       • Prosecutors ask Austin auto dealer charged in murder-for-hire plot not be released on bond | KVUE
         Channel:- KVUE
         Published:- 2021-December-14th
         Added On:- 2021-December-14th
         Link

Commentary

1. 세상만사
   • Texas automotive heir ‘paid $750k for hitmen murder ex and boyfriend’
     • Profile
       • The married grandson of a Texas automotive tycoon was indicted after he allegedly paid three men $750,000 to kidnap and murder his mistress and her current boyfriend who threatened to expose the suspect’s affair.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- 세상만사
         Published:- 2021-December-14th
         Added On:- 2021-December-14th
         Link
2. KK Beyond
   • Texas Man Pays Speartip Security To Take Couple’s Life | KK and Beyond
     • Profile
       • Texas Man Pays Speartip Security To Take Couple’s Life | KK and Beyond
       • Erik Maund had a relationship with Holly Williams while married and her boyfriend William Lanway found out.
       • Erik and Holly would link up frequently when he was in Nashville.
       • Some of the text messages sent from his company phone to Holly read, “Good morning beautiful! Looking forward to later today. I’m in Nashville. I will meet you in the bar like last time. Text when you arrive,” according to the indictment.
     • Videos
       • Video #1
         Channel:- KK Beyond
         Published:- 2021-December-14th
         Added On:- 2021-December-14th
         Demoted On:- 2022-July-28th
         Demotion Reason:- Video unavailable – This video has been removed by the uploader
         Link

 

In Gratitude

Huge gratitude to the Metro Nashville Police Department for getting to the bottom of this.

Also, to local law enforcement in Austin, Texas.

And, to US Attorney’s Office in Tennessee for bringing down indictments.

 

Referenced Work

1. US – Justice Department
   • U.S. Attorney’s Office
     • Middle District of Tennessee
       • Texas Automobile Dealer And Former U.S. Military Soldiers And Purported Former IDF Member Charged In Kidnapping Conspiracy
         Link
2. CNN
   • 4 men indicted in $750,000 murder-for-hire kidnapping plot to keep an affair secret
     Link
3. CBS Austin
   • Feds say Texas car dealer hired hitmen to kill mistress and blackmailer
     Link