Texas Monthly True Crime: The Problem With Erik Texas Monthly

In early 2020, Erik Maund—an executive at one of the top Toyota dealerships in the country, founded by his grandfather—had a problem. A stranger was blackmailing him for having an extramarital affair. Erik’s response to the threat set off a series of fateful decisions that left two people dead. One of those victims was Holly Williams, a Nashville woman who trained as an esthetician, loved to party in the local EDM scene, and also worked as an escort. After months in an abusive relationship, she’d been trying to get her life on track when Erik requested a date.

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Bill Lanway met Holly Williams through mutual friends in the Nashville EDM scene. Soon after they started dating, he moved into her apartment. It was only then, after snooping around on her phone, that he discovered Holly was an escort. Bill reacted with jealousy and violence against Holly, but the scheme he hatched next put them both in peril.

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Facing the blackmail threat, Erik Maund decides not to pay up or go to the police. Instead, he turns to Gil Peled, a security guy at the Maund family car dealership who seems qualified to solve sensitive problems. Built like a bodybuilder, Peled claimed to have experience in the Israeli special forces, and had spent years in Hollywood protecting Charlie Sheen. But Gil Peled isn’t quite the success story he pretends to be.

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Erik Maund had it all. A wife and kids, a mansion by the Austin Country Club golf course, and an executive position with his family’s car dealership. But in March 2020, a message from a stranger put everything at risk. Someone knew Erik had an affair with an escort, and wanted money to keep quiet. Erik didn’t pay the money, though. He didn’t go to the cops, either. Instead, he paid Charlie Sheen’s former bodyguard and a couple of special ops-trained security contractors to confront the blackmailer. Things didn’t go according to plan.

In “The Problem with Erik,” host Katy Vine and producer Ana Worrel tell the twisted story of what came next: a perfect storm of secrets, mistaken identities, and tragic miscommunications that left two people dead.

It's the latest true crime series from the Texas Monthly team behind “Tom Brown’s Body,” “Stephenville,” and "Shane and Sally," coming July 2.



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On July 4, 1988, sixteen-year-old Shane Stewart and eighteen-year-old Sally McNelly went out for the night in their West Texas hometown of San Angelo. They watched the fireworks, stopped for burgers, and drove out to the lake outside of town. They were never seen alive again. That summer, as their parents waited for news from the authorities, Shane’s father Marshall began an investigation of his own, discovering the teens may have been swept up in the town’s darkest of undercurrents.



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In the fall of 1987, Shane Stewart and Sally McNelly met through mutual friends and began dating. Shane was tall and confident. Sally loved to be the center of attention and moved easily between groups of friends.  Later that year, the two began spending more time with a group of teenagers who met up to practice occult rituals. Some friends say the group's activities were just games, but by the summer of 1988, something had changed. Sally told one friend that she and Shane were leaving San Angelo to get away from the group. That was just before the two of them disappeared.


For more on this and every episode, visit texasmonthly.com/shaneandsally 



Get 18 Free Meals, plus Free Shipping on your first box, and Free Dessert for Life, at HomeChef.com/TEXASCRIME.  Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert.