AUSTIN, Texas — We're learning more about one of the men accused in the murder-for-hire plot that ended in the deaths of an estranged couple in Nashville, Tennessee.
Erik Charles Maund is accused of hiring three men to kill Holly Williams and William Lanway. They were found in a car near a construction site in March of 2020. Maund, as well as three other men – Gilad Peled, 47, Bryon Brockway, 46 and Adam Carey, 30 – have been indicted in connection with their deaths.
Around the time of their indictments, Maund and Brockway left public reviews for Speartip Security, which is headed by Peled.
A former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, Peled started his security career in Hollywood, California, where tabloids report that he worked as a bodyguard for actor Charlie Sheen for years. Sheen reportedly fired Peled in 2014, after one of the actor's erratic episodes.
According to KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, Peled later started a security business in California before expanding to the Austin area as Speartip Enterprises and Speartip Security.
The Statesman reports that Peled has licenses and registrations for his company as a security officer, has completed training and was certified in firearm proficiency.
He was licensed to work at Phalanx Protection Worldwide of Austin and Miami-based Tangent Group International, but both companies told the Statesman that he did not take jobs with them or work for them in any capacity. He used his affiliation with the companies to establish his own company.
A lieutenant with the Bee Cave Police Department reportedly helped Peled establish Speartip Security in the Austin area. After the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Peled and the lieutenant planned to offer security consulting to faith groups.
The lieutenant, William Pitmon, worked two minor jobs for Peled in 2021 before the two split ways. He said his full-time job with the Bee Cave Police Department kept him too busy.
"I would never have guessed this in a thousand years," Pitmon told the Statesman in regard to Peled's indictment.
Public Venmo transactions show Speartip Security paid security guards to work at a consignment shop, the Statesman reports.
Brockway and Carey, who are also accused in the killing of the Nashville couple, also have backgrounds in military and security.
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