BETHEL – Hundreds of people came together in an emotional candlelight vigil Saturday night to pay their respects to four people killed over Labor Day weekend in a crime that has shattered the serenity of this rural western Maine resort community.

The service gave the public an outlet to grieve in the aftermath of one of the state’s worst murder cases on record.

During a 90-minute service, friends and family stood at a microphone on the town common, where they mourned the loss and celebrated the lives of the victims.

People in the crowd shed tears and shared hugs. The crowd then became a sea of flickering candles during a closing prayer.

Carlee Beatson, 12, paid tribute to her mother, Cindy Beatson, by reading a poem and a letter she wrote. “Dear Mommy, I miss you and love you very, very much. I know you are still watching me and love me, too,” she said.

Christian Nielsen, 31, has been charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of the owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, her daughter, a co-worker with her daughter and a boarder at the inn. Nielsen also was living at the inn, located in the neighboring town of Newry near the Sunday River ski resort, while working as a cook at an inn in Bethel.

Nielsen told police that the first murder occurred last Friday when he killed James Whitehurst, 50, and burned and disposed of his body in the nearby town of Upton. Two days later, he shot and killed Julie Bullard, 65, who owned the inn, according to a police affidavit.

The following day, Labor Day, he killed Selby Bullard, 30, and Beatson, 43, when they showed up unexpectedly at the inn to check on Bullard’s mother. The women’s bodies were dismembered, according to a police affidavit.

Saturday’s vigil drew friends and family as well as people who had never met the victims. Pauline Wilson traveled from her home in Rumford. She said before the service that it will take a long time for the region to recover.

“You’d think something like this would happen in New York or Boston – but not in a little community like this,” she said.

Those who spoke recalled times they skied, made pancakes and shared laughs with the victims.

Robin Mills, who was friends with Beatson and the Bullards, broke into tears as she spoke to the crowd.

“I know none of our lives will be the same,” she said.