NEWRY, Maine (AP) -- A cook was charged Tuesday with shooting and dismembering the owner of a bed-and-breakfast and three other people in a grisly Labor Day weekend killing spree that shocked people across the Maine countryside.

State Police chief Col. Craig Poulin refused to discuss a motive for what he called the worst homicide case in Maine in 14 years.

Christian Nielsen, 31, told detectives that his four-day killing spree began with a local man on Friday and continued two days later with the slaying of the owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast where he was staying in Newry, according to state police.

The daughter of the inn's owner was then killed along with a female friend when they arrived there unexpectedly on Monday, authorities said.

Police were summoned to the inn by Nielsen's stepmother, Poulin said.

The bodies of the three women were found Monday at the six-room inn, a white 1830s farmhouse in Maine's ski country near the New Hampshire line. Nielsen then led detectives to the man's dismembered and burned remains, dumped in the woods about 15 miles away.

"It's a crime of horrific proportions," Poulin said.

Three dogs also were found shot to death on the property, he added.

Nielsen was charged with four counts of murder and smiled as he left court after being ordered held without bail.

Poulin would not say how the victims had been dismembered.

The victims were identified as bed-and-breakfast owner Julie Bullard, 65, who lived at the inn; her daughter Selby, 30; Cindy Beatson, 43, both of Bethel; and James Whitehurst, 50, of Batesville, Arkansas.

Nielsen had recently been renting a room at the Black Bear while working at another bed-and-breakfast in nearby Bethel. Whitehurst, who was in the area on family business, also had been staying at the Black Bear.

State Police Sgt. Walter Grzyb said the two men did not know each other beyond the fact that they were both staying at the same inn.

"We're all just numb with shock," said Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce. The area is about 75 miles northwest of Portland.

Nancy White, co-owner of the Sudbury Inn, was stunned to learn that the cook she and her husband had hired this summer had been arrested on murder charges. She described him as a reliable employee and a good cook.

"The whole thing is surreal. It's a shock to this small community," she said.

Police assured residents they had nothing to fear. "We believe no one else was involved, and there are no additional victims," Poulin said.

Julie Bullard had decided in February to close the Black Bear, Zinchuk said, and there was a "For Sale" sign out front.

Maine has a low crime rate. Its last quadruple murder was in 1992, when Virgil Smith set fire to a Portland tenement, killing a woman, two men and a 10-month-old baby.

Nielsen had a history of driving offenses that included an arrest for drunken driving, but nothing more serious, police said.

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Holy hell... I wonder what made him snap?

God, that's just plain scary.

Holy Shiite

Oh lord....my husband and I were just talking about something like this tonight while we were discussing our guest house.

There are so many crazy people out there. Luckily, I'm ready for anything...

The man will no doubt go for the insanity plea in this one, however, the severity of the crime may help or hinder that arguement.

Cook held in Maine B&B murder spree
The 31-year-old cook accused of going on a murder spree “of horrific proportions” in Maine shot and dismembered the bodies of three female victims and shot and burned a man, police said today.

Sunday River murders:


The suspect, Christian Nielsen, also shot and killed three pet dogs in a slaughter police say took four days to complete.

“This is the worst homicide in Maine in the past 14 years,’’ said Col. Craig Poulin, commander of the Maine State Police.



The quadruple murder took place at a bed and breakfast near the popular Sunday River ski resort.



“This is a crime of horrific proportions,” a solemn Poulin said, adding they do not expect to find any other victims.

Initial reports indicated that the women’s bodies were chopped up with a chainsaw. When asked to confirm these accounts, Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland would only say that official autopsies would be conducted tomorrow.

State police were alerted Monday evening by members of Nielsen’s family who arrived at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast to find a woman’s body and blood outside. Nielsen’s father told troopers he thought his son had committed the killing, the Associated Press reports.

Detectives say Nielsen told them he first killed a Maine man on Friday, then two days later attacked the owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast where he had been renting a room, according affidavits filed today as Nielsen made his initial court appearance.

The owner’s 30-year-old daughter and a friend were killed when they arrived at the inn unexpectedly on Monday, the state police affidavits said.

Nielsen was charged with four counts of murder and ordered held without bail. He smiled as he left Oxford County Superior Court today, AP is reporting.

The bodies of Julie Bullard, 65, owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, her daughter Selby, 30, and a third woman, Cindy Beatson, 43, were found at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, according to State Police spokesman McCausland.

A body found in the woods 10 to 15 miles away in neighboring Upton was that of a fourth victim, James Whitehurst, 50, McCausland said.

Nielsen had recently been renting a room at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, where the bodies of three women were found Monday. He worked at another bed and breakfast in nearby Bethel.

Whitehurst’s remains were found north of Grafton Notch State Park, 10 to 15 miles away in the neighboring town of Upton, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

News swept across the communities in Maine’s western mountains.

"We’re all just numb with shock," Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce, told the Associated Press.

Police assured residents they had nothing to fear. All victims were accounted for, "and there is no danger," McCausland said.

Police were called to the Black Bear early Monday evening at a time when many vacationers were streaming out of Maine at the close of the Labor Day weekend that marks the traditional close of the summer tourist season. [continue]
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sorry about the double post folks didnt see this thread.

sorry about the double post folks didnt see this thread.

whats the reason for the killing?????

Creepy.

The whole thing is scary and sad. The mother and daughter move there so the daughter can start new since her husband passed away. Her mother is killed and then her and the friend because they walked in on it. All this violence is so needless.

Maybe Mcdonalds wasn't hiring,it does however make you wonder what those secret herbs and spices are at K.F.C.