Julie Bullard, 65, was the owner of the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast in Newry, Maine, having moved from San Francisco about two years earlier to run the converted farmhouse with her daughter Selby. Financial pressure had led Julie to put the inn up for sale by 2006, while continuing to host long-term boarders.

Over Labor Day weekend 2006, a boarder identified as 31-year-old cook Christian Nielsen killed four people associated with the inn. On September 1 he murdered 50-year-old handyman James Whitehurst and later tried to burn Whitehurst’s body in the woods. On September 3 Nielsen shot and killed Julie in her home. The next day Julie’s daughter Selby, 30, and Selby’s friend Cindy Beatson, 43, were also killed; investigators found dismembered remains of the three women and a trail of blood. Nielsen confessed, led police to Whitehurst’s disposal site, was charged with four counts of murder, and later pleaded guilty and received four consecutive life terms. A clear motive was not established.