There’s something about murder for hire in the air this summer (raise your hand if you saw Linkater’s latest), and Texas Monthly is adding to the cultural intrigue with a new podcast.
The Problem With Erik tells a uniquely Austin story about a rich, well-known Austinite, Erik Maund, and a series of misguided plots to hire people to kill his former escort, Holly Williams, and her boyfriend, Bill Lanway. The first two episodes are out now, with more to be released weekly.
This true-crime tale has everything: wanna-be hit men, secret FBI informants, an exclusive man cave called The Sh*thole — you name it.
Holly Williams was an escort in Nashville whom Maund, a married man, would hire while traveling. But meddling in Williams' business affairs was her jealous and abusive boyfriend, Lanway, who texted Maund demanding $25,000, or he’d tell Maund’s wife everything. The blackmail attempt set off a deadly chain of events, resulting in Williams and Lanway being kidnapped, shot to death, and left in a car near a construction site in March 2020.
Police investigate the car.Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
Erik Maund was a familiar local name thanks to the success of his family business, Charles Maund Toyota. Now, he’ll be remembered for his crimes, as Maund was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire by a Tennessee jury in November 2023. Three of his middlemen (including Charlie Sheen’s former bodyguard) were also found guilty of various charges, including kidnapping resulting in death.
Austin-based podcast producer Ana Worrel (who previously produced the podcast Gone South and HBO’s Euphoria) grew up hearing car and TV commercials for the car dealership, along with plenty of other Austinites. So when Erik Maund was arrested in 2021, Worrel and others she knew had a big reaction.
In the podcast’s first episode, retired Chevrolet dealer Wallace Lundgren says, “If you say the Maund name in Austin in a 7-Eleven, two people say, ‘I bought a car from him.’ ” Worrel’s own mother owned a Toyota Highlander.
“It was just really shocking to hear something [like that about what] felt like such an Austin institution to me at the time,” Worrel says.
Texas Monthly’s print story on Maund’s crimes came out this month, but Worrel, who attended Maund’s criminal trial, knew that audio would be an excellent medium for telling this story.
“There was a whole undercover FBI operation with all of these recorded phone calls and recorded meetings that we incorporate throughout the show; between this undercover FBI informant and the hitman, between Erik and his middleman,” Worrel says. “It's pretty shocking to hear. A lot of them are just the hitman chillingly describing how to get away with murder.”
Worrel and podcast host Katy Vine dig deep into the backstory of Maund and his conspirators’ crimes with plenty of clandestine audio from the criminal investigation. They also weave in personal interviews with involved parties including Williams’ friends and the men who used to hang around the Sh*thole, the nickname for a concrete hangout behind a gas station where Maund and friends would meet up.
Listeners will hear about Maund’s privileged cluelessness and tendency to throw money at his problems; Williams’ up-and-down relationship with Lanway and his attempts to chase away her steady clients; and the men who asked Maund for a total of $750,000 to solve his extortion problem “permanently” — one of whom used digital passwords like “Hitman3A,” Worrel says.
Erik Maund will be sentenced later this year and faces life in prison. Until then, all the twists and turns will drop weekly on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
