Selby Bullard, 30, was living in Newry, Maine, with her mother Julie Bullard and two young children in late summer 2006. The family had moved from California a few years earlier; Julie owned the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, a converted farmhouse where Selby had recently started a new career in real estate.

On Labor Day weekend 2006 a series of violent events unfolded at the inn. On September 1 a cook staying there, 31-year-old Christian Nielsen, fatally shot 50-year-old handyman James Whitehurst and later attempted to burn his remains in nearby Upton. On September 3 Nielsen murdered Julie Bullard. On September 4 Selby Bullard and her friend Cynthia Beatson drove to the inn after they could not reach Julie by phone; both women were killed when Nielsen sought to eliminate witnesses. The bodies of the three women were dismembered.

Nielsen’s father and stepmother discovered one of the bodies when they arrived for a visit and called authorities. Police arrested Nielsen without resistance; he confessed to the four killings. October 2007 court action resulted in Nielsen pleading guilty to four counts of murder and receiving life sentences.