Texas Monthly True Crime: The Problem with Erik Texas Monthly

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.


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In this episode, investigators Larry Counts and David Jones detail their initial steps in trying to solve the case—and share the story of how Shane and Sally started speaking with the authorities just months before they were killed. Then, officials at the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office today share their frustrations with the initial investigation, and detail the surviving evidence from the crime scene.

Rob D’Amico and Karen Jacobs, hosts of "Shane and Sally," reconvene in the podcast studio to dive deeper into questions surrounding the 1988 cold case murder of two West Texas teenagers. With every new episode of the podcast, Rob and Karen give additional commentary in bonus videos, examining exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, images, and interviews with subjects involved in the case.

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

In this episode, we take a closer look at two of the investigators’ suspects: Steve Schafer and John Gilbreath. Witnesses told authorities that Schafer was the leader of a local Satanic group whose members included Shane and Sally, though Schafer says he was never part of the group. Gilbreath is the man who, in 2017, was found to have suspicious evidence in his home, including a lock of hair, a fingernail, and notes about Shane and Sally's murders. While authorities have since found that the DNA from this evidence doesn’t match Shane or Sally, Sheriff Nick Hanna says Gilbreath's behavior after the murders—repeatedly claiming to know details about the killings—still arouses suspicion.


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