Murder suspect’s weight loss causes concerns before trial

PORTLAND – Riverview Psychiatric Center officials are alarmed over the rapid weight loss of Christian Nielsen two weeks before he is scheduled to go to trial for the bloody murders of four people in western Maine last year.

Officials at the state-run hospital this week contacted the prosecutor in the case and Nielsen’s attorney to express concern about Nielsen’s weight loss. Nielsen, who is 6 feet tall, has lost 7 pounds in the past five days alone and now weighs 108 pounds.

Hospital staff told Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson and Nielsen’s attorney, Ron Hoffman, that they were considering petitioning the court for medical guardianship so they can force-feed Nielsen.

For now, Nielsen’s trial is still scheduled to begin Oct. 10.

“Both parties have concerns about whether he will be medically fit for a trial, and everyone will work together to make sure Mr. Nielsen is able to have his trial,” Benson said.

Nielsen is charged with killing three women at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast in Newry over Labor Day weekend in 2006. He is also accused of killing a fourth victim, an Arkansas man who was a guest at the bed and breakfast and whose remains were found miles away near Upton.

Nielsen stopped eating last spring while being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland.

But he began eating again and cut out his aggressive exercise regime after jail officials received court permission to insert a feeding tube into him. At the time, Sheriff Mark Dion said Nielsen had lost 55 pounds.