Cook accused in B&B slayings said he set out to kill first man

PORTLAND – A cook accused of murdering four people over the Labor Day weekend told police he decided Aug. 31 to kill a fellow resident of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, then bought a gun and ammunition the next morning to carry out the plan.

But Christian Nielsen, in an interview with police on Labor Day night at the Newry Fire Station, never said why he wanted to kill James Whitehurst, the first to die in the killing spree in the foothills of western Maine.

Detective Jennifer King of the Maine State Police noted that the jeans worn by Nielsen during the interview were caked with mud and blood.

A copy of King’s affidavit, obtained by WCSH-TV from Oxford County Superior Court in South Paris, said items seized during a search of the inn and Nielsen’s car included a gun, bullet casings, bullets, bone chips and jewelry.

Nielsen said he invited Whitehurst to go fishing in Upton, even buying him a sandwich at Subway that was his last meal. After their lunch, Nielsen shot Whitehurst, 50, of Batesville, Ark., three or four times in the back of the head, then left the body there and went to his job as a cook at the Sudbury Inn in Bethel, he told police.

Nielsen, 31, said he returned to Upton the next day and began to dig a grave for Whitehurst’s body, but then decided to burn it instead.

Nielsen told police he felt compelled to kill Black Bear owner Julie Bullard because she would be suspicious of Whitehurst’s disappearance.

He said he shot Bullard, 65, three times in the chest on the morning of Sept. 3 after breaking down her bedroom door while she was sleeping. He told police he dragged her body outside, cut her in half with a hacksaw and an axe, covered her body with a tarp and left for his job.

On Labor Day, Nielsen borrowed a chain saw at his father’s house, then returned to the inn where the owner’s daughter, Selby Bullard, 30, and her friend, Cindy Beatson, 43, showed up unexpectedly.

He told police that he knew Selby Bullard would wonder about her mother’s whereabouts. He said he decided to kill the two visitors, shooting both in the head.

Nielsen said he dragged the two bodies outside and cut them up with the borrowed chain saw and a hacksaw. He said he cut both women’s fingers off and removed their rings, placing them in his duffel bag.

Nielsen’s father and stepmother went to the inn that night and called police to report that they found a body outside. Nielsen’s stepmother called police back to say that Nielsen told his father, Charles Nielsen, that he had killed four people.

Nielsen pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder and was being held without bail in the Cumberland County Jail. A judge last month granted a motion by prosecutors that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation.