Christian Nielsen and the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast Murders

In September 2006, the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast in Newry, Maine should have been quiet in the way old New England inns are quiet—wooden floors, mountain air, guests coming and going near Sunday River, and the ordinary end-of-summer rhythm of Labor Day weekend. Instead, over four days, it became the center of one of Maine’s most disturbing homicide cases in more than a decade. Four people were murdered: Julie Bullard, James “Jimmy” Whitehurst, Selby Bullard, and Cynthia “Cindy” Beatson. The man who killed them was Christian Charles Nielsen, a 31-year-old cook who had been living at the inn. Authorities never established a meaningful motive. Nielsen later admitted he shot them all.

Who Was Connected to Whom?

At the center of this tragedy was Julie Bullard, 65, the owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast. Julie had moved to Maine from California after previously running and selling a bed and breakfast in San Francisco. Her daughter, Selby Bullard, 30, had also come east after personal tragedy; according to reporting at the time, Selby had recently lost her husband in a car accident, and the move to Maine was described by people who knew them as a fresh start for mother and daughter.

James “Jimmy” Whitehurst, 50, was from Batesville, Arkansas. He had been staying at the Black Bear and helping Julie as a handyman. Cynthia “Cindy” Beatson, 43, was Selby Bullard’s friend and coworker. Selby and Cindy had both been working part-time at Apple Tree Realty. Christian Nielsen was not family. He was a guest or boarder at the inn and worked nearby as a cook at the Sudbury Inn in Bethel.

The relationships matter because this was not a random attack on strangers passing through a roadside motel. Nielsen knew at least Julie Bullard and Jimmy Whitehurst, and police said he probably knew all four victims. They were connected through the inn, through work, and through the small social web of western Maine.

Julie Bullard and the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast

The Black Bear Bed & Breakfast was a 130-year-old converted farmhouse in Newry, a resort town near Sunday River and Maine’s outdoor tourism corridor. It had the trappings of a destination inn: a pool, a tennis court, mountain charm, and the appeal of a quiet getaway. Julie Bullard bought the property after moving to Maine roughly two years before the murders. She had sold her San Francisco bed and breakfast before coming east, and the Black Bear appeared to be part of a new chapter for her and Selby.

But by 2006, the dream had shifted. Julie had reportedly decided in February to close the inn, and there was a “For Sale” sign out front. The Black Bear was no longer simply a business; it was a transition point. Julie was trying to move forward again. Selby was rebuilding too. That makes what happened there even more devastating. These were not people living recklessly at the edge of danger. They were people trying to start over.

September 1, 2006: Jimmy Whitehurst

The first murder happened on Friday, September 1, 2006. According to prosecutors, Nielsen purchased a .38-caliber revolver that same day. He then invited Jimmy Whitehurst on what was supposed to be a fishing trip in a remote area near Upton, Maine, about 15 miles from the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast.

Whitehurst never came back.

Prosecutors later said Nielsen shot Whitehurst once in the back of the head and fired additional shots into his body. Nielsen returned the next day, dismembered and burned Whitehurst’s remains, and left them in the Upton area. When asked why he chose Whitehurst, Nielsen gave no coherent reason. According to the sentencing memorandum described by the Lewiston Sun Journal, Nielsen said Whitehurst “read, read, read, and one thing led to another, and I chose Jim.”

That answer is chilling because it does not function like a motive. It sounds less like an explanation and more like a shrug from a man who had already crossed a line most people never approach.

September 3, 2006: Julie Bullard

By Sunday, September 3, Nielsen apparently believed Julie Bullard would notice Whitehurst was missing. Instead of fleeing, confessing, or even trying to create a plausible story, he escalated. Prosecutors said Nielsen broke into Julie’s room and shot her multiple times in the head, chest, and back. He then moved and dismembered her body and placed her remains in the woods near the inn.

Even after killing Julie, Nielsen continued reporting to work for his shifts at the Sudbury Inn. That detail gives the case one of its most unnerving edges. The murders were not followed by visible panic or immediate collapse. Nielsen moved between horror and ordinary life as if the two could exist side by side.

September 4, 2006: Selby Bullard and Cindy Beatson

On Monday, September 4, Labor Day, Selby Bullard and Cindy Beatson arrived at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast. They were there because something was wrong. Julie was missing, and questions were beginning to gather around the inn. Prosecutors said Nielsen believed Selby would become suspicious about her mother’s absence, so he decided to kill her too.

Cindy Beatson was with Selby. She became the fourth victim.

Nielsen shot both women. Selby was Julie’s daughter. Cindy was Selby’s friend. They had come to check on someone they loved, and they walked into the aftermath of a man trying to erase witnesses to crimes that never had to happen in the first place.

According to prosecutors, Nielsen also considered taking over the Black Bear Inn himself. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson wrote that with Selby dead, Nielsen believed “there would be nothing to stop him” from running the inn as proprietor. (

That is one of the most grotesque pieces of the case: after killing the owner, her daughter, the handyman, and the daughter’s friend, Nielsen’s mind apparently moved toward possession. Not remorse. Not escape. Ownership.

The Discovery

The murders came to light because of Nielsen’s own family. On September 4, Nielsen told his father, Charles Nielsen, that Julie Bullard had left him in charge of the inn. Later that day, Charles Nielsen and his wife, Lee Graham, arrived at the Black Bear. What they found was horrifying: blood outside the inn and human remains near the property.

Trooper Dan Hanson of the Maine State Police was dispatched around 5:30 p.m. for what was described as an “unattended death” at the Black Bear Inn. When he arrived, Lee Graham told him that her husband had found bodies and that her stepson had said he killed people. Hanson approached Christian Nielsen and asked what was going on. Nielsen replied: “Well, I killed some people, Dan. I shot them all. The gun’s in the house in the tool chest.”

Police soon found the remains of two dismembered human bodies and two dogs in brush near the inn. Later, officers found a third body under a tarp about 50 yards away. Authorities also learned there was a fourth victim in Upton: Jimmy Whitehurst.

The Investigation and Confession

Nielsen was arrested without resistance. According to court records, after being advised of his rights, he indicated he was willing to speak with detectives. Police recovered evidence at the inn and used Nielsen’s statements to locate Whitehurst’s remains in Upton.

The early public details stunned Maine. State Police Chief Col. Craig Poulin called the case “a crime of horrific proportions,” and authorities emphasized that they believed Nielsen acted alone and that there were no additional victims.

That mattered in a small community already reeling from the discovery that a familiar local property—a place meant for travelers, skiers, vacationers, and families—had become a murder scene.

The Legal Aftermath

Christian Nielsen was charged with four counts of murder. He eventually entered a conditional guilty plea to all four counts. In 2008, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court reviewed his appeal regarding statements he made to police and evidence obtained from those statements. The court affirmed the judgment of conviction.

Before sentencing, prosecutors revealed disturbing information about Nielsen’s thinking. Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said Nielsen had thought about becoming a serial killer for years and told Maine State Police Detective Jennifer King that he would have killed again if he had not been caught. When asked why he killed, Nielsen reportedly answered, “That’s what I do.”

On sentencing, Nielsen received four concurrent life sentences for the murders of James Whitehurst, Julie Bullard, Selby Bullard, and Cindy Beatson.

The Human Cost

The Black Bear Bed & Breakfast murders are often remembered for their brutality, but the victims should not be reduced to the manner of their deaths.

Julie Bullard was a woman trying to build something new in Maine. She had run an inn before, bought the Black Bear, and moved across the country with the hope of beginning again. Selby Bullard was her daughter, a young widow trying to rebuild after losing her husband. Cindy Beatson was Selby’s friend and coworker, someone who went with her to check on Julie and never came home. Jimmy Whitehurst was far from Arkansas, helping around the inn, drawn into what was framed as a fishing trip and murdered in the woods.

Their relationships made the case even more painful. A mother and daughter. A grieving young woman and the friend beside her. A handyman who had been staying at the inn. Four people tied together by work, friendship, family, and proximity—and killed by a man who gave no real reason at all.

Why This Case Still Haunts Maine

Some crimes are terrifying because of motive. Greed. Jealousy. Revenge. Insurance money. A relationship ending. A secret exposed. The Black Bear Bed & Breakfast murders are terrifying because the motive remains hollow. Nielsen’s explanations never brought clarity. Prosecutors described his thinking as “chilling,” and that may be the closest language can get.

The horror of this case is not only that four people were murdered over Labor Day weekend in a beautiful part of Maine. It is that the killings appear to have unfolded because one man decided to kill, then killed again to cover the first murder, then killed again to cover the second, and again because another person happened to be standing beside the third.

By the time police arrived at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, the inn that Julie Bullard once hoped would be a fresh start had become something else entirely: a crime scene, a memorial, and a reminder that sometimes evil does not arrive with a grand motive. Sometimes it checks in quietly, goes to work, and waits.

sources used for this podcast:

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Langeveld, M. D. (2007, October 17). Nielsen’s thinking “chilling”. Lewiston Sun Journal. https://www.sunjournal.com/2007/10/17/nielsens-thinking-chilling/

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