Suspect arrested in quadruple slayings near Maine ski resort

NEWRY, Maine - A 31-year-old cook is accused of killing and dismembering a bed and breakfast owner and two other women outside the converted farmhouse and burned the body of a fourth victim before dumping the remains in the woods in a neighboring town, officials said today.

The suspect told detectives that his four-day killing spree began with a local man on Friday and continued two days later with the death of the owner of the bed and breakfast where he was staying in Newry, according to a state police affidavit. Newry is near the New Hampshire line, about 75 miles northwest of Portland.

The daughter of the bed and breakfast owner and a friend were killed when they arrived there unexpectedly on Labor Day, the affidavit said.

Col. Craig Poulin, state police chief, painted the picture of a grisly crime with three women who'd been shot and dismembered. The fourth victim's body was burned, dismembered and his remains were dumped in the woods 10 to 15 miles away in Upton.

"It's a crime of horrific proportions," Poulin told reporters at a news conference. He said it was the "worst homicide in Maine in 14 years."

The bodies of the three women were recovered Monday evening, and detectives were still working today to recover the remains of the man.

The suspect, who was charged with four counts of murder, smiled as he was leaving Oxford County Superior Court, where he was ordered held without bail.

"The police didn't get involved until Monday," said Deputy Attorney General William Stokes. "How it happened, when it happened and why it happened is still unclear."

Stokes said investigators worked throughout the night and still have questions about the sequence of events.

The suspect was working at the Sudbury Inn in Bethel and rented a room at the Black Bear Bed and Breakfast, owned by Julie Bullard. Police believe that the suspect killed James Whitehurst, 50, and left his body in Upton.

The owner of Sudbury Inn said he worked his shift in the kitchen Sunday, getting off work in the late evening. Sometime the same day, he killed Bullard, Stokes said.

Bullard's daughter, Selby Bullard, 30, became concerned when she couldn't reach her mother by cell phone.

She drove to Newry with her friend Cynthia Beatson, 42, on Monday, said Benita Sessions, who runs the Apple Tree Realty Office in Bethel, where the two women worked.

"Julie had bad asthma, she would get into these coughing fits," Sessions said. "Selby couldn't reach her by phone so she and Cindy drove out her to check on her."

Stokes said Bullard and Beatson were killed when they came to the Black Bear.

The state police crime scene evidence recovery team scoured the grounds by the white inn with maroon shutters off Monkey Brook Road, looking for evidence outside the house and behind an outdoor swimming pool.

Little is known about Whitehurst, Stokes said. Authorities have not been able to reach his next of kin late this morning. Julie and Selby Bullard had moved to Maine from San Francisco, sometime in the last two years, Sessions said.

Selby Bullard had two children and had been selling real estate for about a year.

Beatson grew up in the Bethel area and had worked as a waitress and a seamstress before she started selling real estate.

She was married to Dough Beatson, a local contractor, and they had one child.

Sessions said the two women were best friends and went everywhere together.

It's unclear what sparked the killings. 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.

Poulin declined to discuss motive. He said all had been shot and all four had been dismembered. He declined to say how they'd been dismembered.

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

''We're all just numb with shock,'' said Robin Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce.

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

Police were called to the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast at a time when many vacationers were streaming out of Maine at the close of the Labor Day weekend.

Nielson grew up in the Oxford County area, but lived in Farmington for several years. According to Farmington police, Nielsen had a record of mostly traffic-related violations, including a 1998 arrest and conviction for drunken driving.

"The name didn't jump out as somebody that we knew," said Police Chief Richard Caton III.

His last brush with Farmington police was in August 2005, when he was issued a summons for driving after suspension. At the time Nielsen listed his residence as a 5-unit apartment building in downtown Farmington, near the University of Maine campus.

Nancy White, proprietor of the Sudbury Inn, was stunned to hear about the allegations against Nielsen.

"He was a reliable employee, a competent cook and a soft spoken individual," she said. "I'm shocked and stunned and appalled. It's horrible."

The phone rang unanswered Tuesday at the Black Bear, a white clapboard farmhouse with a red roof that was converted into a six-room bed-and-breakfast with a pool and tennis courts.

Julie Bullard operated a bed and breakfast in San Francisco that she sold prior to coming to Bethel area with her daughter to operate the Black Bear, Zinchuk said.

"Her daughter, Selby, had just lost her husband in a car crash and I think in some ways she and Selby were doing something together, getting a fresh start, with Selby's two children," Zinchuk said.

For a time, Selby Bullard operated an optician's shop in town that filled eyeglass prescriptions, Zinchuk said. More recently, she received a real estate license and had been working with Beatson at Apple Tree Realty Inc., she said.

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

The Associated Press, staff writers Tom Bell, David Hench and Trevor Maxwell contributed to this report.