Murder With My Husband - 159. The Bed and Breakfast Massacre

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Starting point is 00:00:25 Yes, you energy. Energy for everything. Captain Banner now to learn more. Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Mordor with my husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's a husband?

Starting point is 00:00:36 I'm a husband. Real quick, some quick announcements. The mobile app is now available for our world. It is our virtual world. And now we have a whole board and chat section going where you can talk about the different cases. We're posting other questions in there and topics. It's completely free. The app will be in the link somewhere in the description. Check it out. Come see what we're talking about.

Starting point is 00:01:00 Just a place for all of us to hang out and chat and talk to crime. It's seriously so fun. Again, the link will be below to download the app and check it out. All right. Get that jumps us to 10 seconds. Peyton and I went on a little vacation. Um, it was fun. Way to good time. We just kind of hung out at the beach decompressed a little bit and now we are back recording and ready to go. We did leave Daisy, so that was a little sad, but. We laughed to her with grandma and grandpa. But it was good. Pick was, I think, a little bit more sad than I was. If you saw me ball my eyes out in the airport,

Starting point is 00:01:34 no, you didn't. It. It. Also, I have been working on trying to make these MWMH hats. We're getting there, hopefully soon. I just get really picky about hats. So I wanted to make sure that it was something that I would wear 24 seven. And so I just been putting a lot of time into those. Hopefully there is an update soon on that. You know, I think that's it for my 10 seconds this week. So let's hop right

Starting point is 00:02:00 into it. All right, our case sources this week are CBS news, the Boston Globe, the New York times, C coast online, dot com, SF gate, dot com, WJBQ, dot com, the Portland press, Harold, murder, pdf, the Cinematolic Arkansas, Democrat, Gazette, the Bangor Daily News, USA today, sunjournal, dot com, main biz, dot biz, Boston, dot com and find a grave, dot com. Find a grave, dot com. Mm hmm. Like you can find anyone's grave. Yeah, they're headstone and a little synopsis about them

Starting point is 00:02:29 You can also leave comments for people who have died. Yeah, like I could search Your grandma I could find her only someone submitted her onto it. Oh, okay, God doesn't have everybody's Okay, but it's really nice to actually go through and read the comments of On victims pages. It's pretty awesome. Okay, so when you think about Maine This is the 23rd state Admitted to the Union up in the very northeastern corner of the United States You might think about New England lighthouses and fresh lobster and maple syrup and foliage and rocky coastlines and little quaint B&Bs.

Starting point is 00:03:06 All very pleasant things. When you think about Maine though, you probably don't think about murder, particularly not mass murder. After all, Maine is one of the safest states in the U.S. And our case this week is taking us to one of those quaint B&Bs, the black bear bed and breakfast in the small town of Newri Maine. Now Newri is in southwestern Maine close to Maine's western border with New Hampshire and the black bear B&B is right near the Sunday River ski resort and this is in the heart of Maine's

Starting point is 00:03:40 ski country. Now depending on the, this area is very popular with skiers and outdoor enthusiasts. Newri is about 80 miles northwest of Portland, Maine, and about 70 miles west of Augusta, the state's capital. Now, the Black Bear B&B occupies a historic building off Monkeybrook Road in Newri on Sunday River Road. The Black bear has a pool outback and inviting lawn areas. The inn is a painted white clapboard building with maroon shutters and a red metal roof and is surrounded by woods. And this bed and breakfast sits on eight acres. So essentially just imagine what I picture is the notebook house. We've seen the notebook. I'm kind of picturing that and then make it a bed and breakfast. So in 2006, Julie Atabari newbie Bollard is the 65 year old proprietor of the black

Starting point is 00:04:36 bear bed and breakfast in Newary, but Julie isn't originally from Maine. Julie was born in Texas on July 22, 1941. Her father was an airline pilot for Pan Am and while growing up Julie lived with her family in various cities all around the world. She spent most of her adult life in San Francisco and that's where she still has a lot of family at this time in 2006. She's the proud mom of four adult daughters and the proud grandmother to nine grandchildren. She loves pets and she always has several cats or dogs living with her. For many years Julie is living in the Bay area and is busy running an in there called the Church Street

Starting point is 00:05:22 Bed and Breakfast. So it's safe to say Julie's a natural at running these little ends and her friendly personality is such a good match for this line of work. She's known for going out of her way to take care of her guests and to make sure everything's comfortable and even goes to such links as running out and getting them medicine if they're sick. A newspaper article in sfgate.com quotes Julie is saying about running a bed and breakfast. It's kind of like being a mother.

Starting point is 00:05:48 I just had to learn to keep a household. However, all of Julie's plans around this time change when tragedy strikes. Julie's son-in-law, her daughter, Selby's husband, is killed in a car accident, leaving Selby a single mom with two young kids. Julie and her 30-year-old daughter Selby are very close and Julie wants to do what's best for her daughter and her grandkids, so they decide that a fresh start in a new location far away will be the best thing for all of them including the kids, which it is really sad. I mean, her husband dies and then she has to move back

Starting point is 00:06:23 in with her mom and the kids. So in 2004, Julie sells the inn in San Francisco and she packs up and moves with Selby and the two kids and all of their pets across the country to Maine. And Julie feels safe in Maine and it seems like the perfect place to run a brand new bed and breakfast. And that's how we get to her running the black new bed and breakfast. And that's how we get to her running the black bear bed and breakfast. This new adventure in this beautiful new setting will help the family begin the healing process and help them to continue living productive lives. According to the Boston Globe, Julie puts her own eclectic design touches on the new project and Selby and her two kids live in their own

Starting point is 00:07:01 place not far from Julie and the black bear bed and breakfast. So they all just kind of run away to Maine, they start running this new bed and breakfast and hope for a fresh start. Now in keeping with her new beginnings, Selby the daughter decides to earn her real estate license soon after moving. But before moving, she'd had several jobs, including waiting tables, working at a Nell Slon and running an eyeglass store. So Selby takes a part-time job at

Starting point is 00:07:26 Apple Tree Realty in Maine, and this is a perfect job for her as it gives her time to spend with her two children, her eight-year-old son who's named Elliott and her 12-year-old daughter named Lila. Selby, who's described as, quote, always smiling, really enjoys her new opportunity at Apple Tree Realty. It's at this office that she meets and makes a new friend named Cynthia Beatson. And they are pretty much inseparable, and Cindy is like a big sister to her. So this new move seems to be going well, because she moves, she starts a new job, and then meets her best friend at this job. So Selby's new best friend, Cindy, who's 43 years old, was born on May 29th in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cindy attended the fashion school of design in Boston. She is active, athletic, friendly, and loves many sports.

Starting point is 00:08:16 Cindy has also recently earned her real estate license, like I said, and began working at Apple Trutialty. She's described as beautiful and animated and she lives in Bethel with her husband and young daughter. So it's now 2006 and after only two years in Maine, Julie is 65 years old and is facing a tough decision. She's discovered how tough it is to make it financially as a proprietor of B&B in Maine. She's tried to make it work, and she really likes living in Maine, but after thinking it through, her plan is to regretfully sell the Black Bear B&B and to move in with another daughter

Starting point is 00:08:52 who owns a house in Brooklyn, New York. So she kind of got this one daughter established here, but the money just isn't making sense, so she's gonna sell the in and then move in with another daughter in New York. So Julie puts the Black bear property up for sale in the spring of 2006 with an asking price of $639,000. Okay.

Starting point is 00:09:11 By Labor Day weekend though, it still hasn't sold. Julie has been winding down the B&B business and isn't taking on any new B&B guests. However, to try to make ends meet, she's willing to take on longer term borders. So waiting for the house to sell, she's like, okay, maybe I can's willing to take on longer term borders so it waiting for the house to sell yeah she's like okay maybe I can get someone to stay here longer she gets an application from a young local college student

Starting point is 00:09:32 named Christian and she decides to rent him a room so you have Julie the owner who's living at the end and then now Christian Nelson who's living there and then there's one other person living at the black baron in the summer of 2006 and his name is James he goes by Jimmy Whitehurst now Jimmy who's living there. And then there's one other person living at the Black Barron in the summer of 2006. And his name is James. He goes by Jimmy Whitehurst. Now Jimmy is 50 years old. He works as a handyman.

Starting point is 00:09:52 And about a month before the Labor Day weekend, Julie gives Jimmy a free place to stay at the BNB in exchange for him performing some handyman work for her on the inn. This living arrangement is perfect for him. He doesn't have to pay, and all he has to do is work on the inn. This living arrangement is perfect for him. He doesn't have to pay, and all he has to do is work around the house. So it's Monday, September 4th, 2006. It's Labor Day. Taurus are in Maine this weekend to enjoy the leaves and a quiet holiday of canoeing and fishing.

Starting point is 00:10:18 It's the last day of the summer Taurus season in Maine. Now vacationers will be heading out of Maine and back home today. However, there are no tourists at the Black Bear Inn. At about 5.30 p.m., the main state police get a dispatch about a death at the Black Bear Inn in New Remain. All right, here we go. Trooper Dan Hanson is the one who gets the call. Hanson drives out in his patrol car to Black Bear.

Starting point is 00:10:43 And when he pulls up, he finds three people outside in front of the BNB. It's the border, Christian Nilsson. Nilsson's dad, Charles, and Christian's dad's third wife, Lee Graham, who is Christian's stepmother. So basically it's Christian and his parents, yeah. Lee Graham rushes up to Trooper Hanson when he pulls under the property and she tells him

Starting point is 00:11:06 that her husband Charles has found some bodies outside of the B&B. Bodies. Yes. She also tells him that Nielsen has told his father that he killed some people. Okay. So she has these bodies and then she basically says, and my stepson says he killed some people. The trooper sees Nielsen and his dad sitting together nearby on a bench. So the trooper walks over and says, what's going on? Christian Nielsen takes a look at the trooper's name tag and then casually says, well, I killed some people, Dan. I shot them all.

Starting point is 00:11:37 The gun's in the house in the tool chest. So that escalated quickly? Yes. The trooper can't help but notice that Nielen's parents are caked with mud and blood. So, not just Christian, but the parents as well. Yeah, that's weird. So the trooper is like, okay, when did this happen? And he said a while ago.

Starting point is 00:11:57 So trooper Hansen is dealing with something he doesn't deal with often. And honestly, most officers don't deal with. But he handles the situation like the train professional he is. He reads Christian Nelson his Miranda rights and places him under arrest. He asks Nelson if he'd like to talk, and Nelson says yes. However, Nelson informs Trooper Hanson that he's only going to tell the story once. So the trooper wisely wanting to wait for homicide detectives to arrive to hear the story and any confession that he might make Handcuffs him and puts him in the police car and doesn't ask him any questions

Starting point is 00:12:30 It's smart. The trooper also turns on the video recorder in the patrol car Okay, at this point Nielsen's dad talks to his son through the police car window And he makes a comment about shouldn't Nielsen just wait to talk to a lawyer and he goes, yeah, that's not a bad idea. The trooper reminds Nelson that it's up to him whether to talk to police or not and he says again, he'll talk to detectives. Trooper Hanson knows it might take homicide detectives a while to arrive at the B&B in the small town. So in the meantime, he needs to find out what exactly is going on and whether anyone else needs to be arrested and whether anyone needs help. I'm still thinking about how the dad and the step-on are covered in mud and blood as well.

Starting point is 00:13:11 Right. That's weird. So Trooper Hansen asks Charles to describe what he found. Like you said, you found bodies. What exactly happened? So Charles then leads the trooper along a trail of blood across the grass to some brush on the B&B's property. The trooper comes upon two freshly dismembered bodies in the brush. It's the bodies of two women, and they've been left in what's described as bloody heaps. And along with the human bodies are the bodies of two or three dogs who have also met

Starting point is 00:13:44 violent deaths. The trooper still doesn't know yet what he's dealing with or how many victims there are. The trooper goes back to the police car and says to Christian Nielsen on tape, I know you invoked your rights and you want to speak to council but I need to ask you this question. Is there any chance that there is anyone here alive? I don't want to leave someone out there bleeding. And Nielsen says no, everyone's dead. So still waiting for detectives to arrive. Charles

Starting point is 00:14:10 tells the trooper that his son had told him that there are a total of four victims. But so far, the trooper thinks he's only seen two. So Charles tells the trooper that three of the victims are there close to the B&B and that one is in the town of Upton. So it's not just on this property, the trooper gets directions from both Christian and his dad Charles as to where the third body can be found. However, he can't leave the patrol car to go investigate as he's still the only officer on the scene.

Starting point is 00:14:40 At about 6 p.m., Norm Lewis, a game morning, arrives at the black bear inn. He's there to assist the trooper until more backup can arrive. He finds the trooper talking to Nelson through the police car window. The trooper asks the game warden if he knows the brown company wrote in uptown because there might be a victim there. Charles says to ask his son for directions, but the trooper doesn't want to. As Nelson says, he only wants to tell the whole story once.

Starting point is 00:15:06 So he's like, I'm not gonna ask him because what if he then closes up after? Trooper Hansen still wants the homicide detectives to do all of this and be present for any statement. So once the game warden shows up and can keep eye on a situation, Trooper Hansen goes to the spot where he was told that the third body can be found at the B&B

Starting point is 00:15:26 It's on the black bear property about 50 yards from the other two bodies and that's where he finds a tarp Okay, you guys we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for Peacock and then we used rocket money and realized how dumb we are and our so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that. Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps you lower your bills all in one place. And like Payton said, I'm always on it, checking things out, seeing what's going on, seeing how many Amazon packages Payton are buying.

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Starting point is 00:17:47 This body is also dismembered and has been cut in half. Oh my gosh. So while Trooper Hansen is out looking for the third body, Lewis, the gay Morton, here's Nelson say to his dad that the police won't be able to find the fourth body out and up to him because he burned it. Nelson then gives Lewis directions to the burn spot without Lewis asking. Lewis does once ask for clarification in the directions, but otherwise doesn't question him. At 7.30pm, two hours after Trooper Hansen had first got the call,

Starting point is 00:18:16 a detective from the main criminal investigation division arrives on the scene. Her name is Detective Jennifer King, and King and Nelson is still handcuffed and sitting in Trooper Hanson's patrol car at this point, which means he's basically been sitting there in the back for two hours. Detective King asks if Nelson will consent to be interviewed by detectives at the Neuery Fire Station and he says yes, so they then drive him to the station. Once there, Detective King and another detective take off Nelson's handcuffs, let him use the bathroom, give him a sandwich, let him take off his bloody muddy clothes and change in a clean clothes, and again inform him of his Miranda rights. Nilsen states that he understands his rights, and this interview is two hours long and it's all caught on audio tape. Nilsen says, quote, we're talking about dead people. Okay, is that something you want me to talk

Starting point is 00:19:05 about? I'll tell you exactly what happened. He then confesses and grew some detail to the mass murder, the murder of four people. Three of those bodies having been found at the B&B all chopped up. What a strange, and what a strange person. Right. I don't understand. Well, this is the horrific story that he tells police. This is what he says happens. Nilsson says that he decides on Thursday, August 31, 2006 that he's going to kill Jimmy White Hurst. Remember, Nilsson is already living at the B&B with Jimmy, who is the man working on

Starting point is 00:19:41 the house. The men have only known each other for a very short time and they only know each other through living at the BMB. There's no reason for wanting to kill Jimmy, other than that Nilsen had wanted to kill someone for years and that he finds Jimmy to be objectionable. Nilsen goes to a local gun store and buys a 38 caliber gun along with ammunition

Starting point is 00:20:04 so he can carry out this plan or this fantasy of killing Jimmy. And then on Friday, September 1st, the first day of the Labor Day weekend and three days before Trooper Hanson will get involved and get that call. Nilsson isn't planning to canoe or enjoy the outdoors. He has other plans. He is planning to murder on this Labor Day weekend. Nilsen invites Jimmy to join him for a pleasant afternoon of going out to lunch and then heading up to do some fishing. Nilsen claims he has a cabin out in nearby Upton. The two set off in Christian Nilsen's car. They stop at a subway fast food place where

Starting point is 00:20:40 Nilsen buys Jimmy a sandwich. Nilsen then drives Jimmy way out on a dirt road, basically all the way out to the main New Hampshire state line. This is the remote woods in Upton, about 15 miles from the black bear B&B. And at this point, Jimmy's got his cane with him, remember he is a little bit older, and Nelson has got his gun. Oh, so sad. Nelson lures Jimmy out into the woods with no one else around,

Starting point is 00:21:06 and they're peacefully eating lunch in a clearing. Nelson then comes up behind the unsuspecting Jimmy and shoots Jimmy in the back of the head with the 38-hand gun execution style from nearly point blank range. This shot is fatal, but Nelson shoots Jimmy two more times into his body. And Jimmy never even sees the gun. He probably doesn't. He had no idea what's happened.

Starting point is 00:21:30 Nilsen decides to leave Jimmy's body out there in the wilderness right where it's fallen. Nilsen then drives away from the scene of his first murder. Then as though nothing has happened, Nilsen goes to work that Friday night at SUDS pub at the Sudbury Inn to be a cook. This is where the whole psychology behind it just gets so interesting. Like, has he always wanted to kill someone like what? When did these fantasies start? Yeah, like what happened? Right. And it's also just crazy that he can murder someone and then be the cook that's cooking patrons food fresh off of committing a murder. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:22:07 Like those feelings and those thoughts there completely turned off. Right. There is no, yeah, exactly. So the next day, this would be Saturday, September 2nd. Nilsson returns to the woods and opt-ins so that he can dispose of Jimmy's body. He's planning to bury Jimmy in a lonely,

Starting point is 00:22:22 unmarked grave out there in the woods. Nilsson starts out by digging a grave, but before long he changes his mind. He realizes that digging a grave is extremely time-consuming, and it's also back-breaking difficult work. So, needless to say, Nilsson is just lazy. Going down several feet into the earth is no easy task, so Nilsson decides that instead of burying him, he's just going to burn the body. Nilsson uses gasoline as an burying him, he's just going to burn the body.

Starting point is 00:22:51 Nelson uses gasoline as an accelerant to incinerate him. Nilsen chops the body apart, hacking at it, dismembering it into pieces while it's burning. But it will burn faster. And these will be additional charges like you kill someone. Hopefully he's already screwed for life. Right. It just adds to it. and then he's already screwed for life. Right. It's just it adds to it. Nilsen finally leaves only after Jimmy's body is totally incinerated and there are no traces left, which had to have been a pretty hot fire. It probably did help the dismemberment as well.

Starting point is 00:23:16 So Nilsen rests easy now that he's gotten away with murder. However, the following day, this would be Sunday, September 3rd. Nilsen realizes that Julie Bullard is going to get worried about Jimmy's disappearance. She lives at the house with them too. Where did Jimmy vanish to? Where has he gone? Being the extra caring person that she is, Nilsen knows that Julie will surely go looking for Jimmy and that she'll quickly alert authorities that he's vanished.

Starting point is 00:23:42 So in order to cover up Jimmy's murder, Nilsen theorizes that he needs to kill Julie as well. He peaks into her bedroom window at the B&B and he sees that she's in her bed sleeping. Nilsen then goes back inside the B&B and he suddenly breaks down Julie's door while she's helpless in her bedroom. He really doesn't have to worry about the noise because they're on eight acres of land. Like, you can know neighbors are going to hear this. So once he's busted his way into her room, he open fires, shooting Julie multiple times in the chest. Remember, she was asleep. There's a report that the shots knocked her out of bed and into a wall. And then he later tells police that he thinks this was all awesome. Like this was just, what a freak.

Starting point is 00:24:29 So cool to watch. I don't know how to explain somebody like this. Then according to South Coast today.com, he told police he dragged her body outside, cut her in half with a hacksaw and an axe, covered her body with a tarp and left for his job once again. Again, this is in 2006. Yeah. He's hacking somebody up. Mm-hmm. Just like before, after committing an active absolute atrocity, Nielsen shows up nonchalantly for work on time and

Starting point is 00:24:57 cooks. So it's now Labor Day. This would be Monday, September 4th, 2006. It's the last day of the summer tourist season in Maine. Around this time, Nilsen goes to his father's house and borrows a chain saw. He then goes back to the black bear in. Meanwhile, Julie's daughter, Selby, is becoming increasingly worried about her mother because she's not answering her cell phone and she's not returning Selby's calls. Remember, Selby's the daughter who came and started over in Maine with her. According to Selby's employer, who runs the Apple Tree Realty office, Julie had bad asthma. She would get into these coughing fits. So

Starting point is 00:25:37 Selby was worried when she couldn't reach her by phone, so she just drove to the B&B to check on her. Selby is very worried about her mom's health and she herself has a broken leg at this point. So her best friend Cynthia is driving her around. Remember Cynthia's her friend with the husband who they spend a lot of time together. Now they're both heading to the B&B to check on mom Julie and I know you know where this is going.

Starting point is 00:26:03 This is how we end up with four. Yep. So Selby and Cynthia show up unexpectedly at the black bear end to check on Julie. Selby's mother. They don't know that she was murdered and dismembered by the paying border the day before. Nilsen though is there inside the black bear and he hears a car pull up front so he gets ready. I mean mean he's probably in full blown panic. So Selby and Cynthia go inside the B&B to check on Selby's mom and imagine Selby's fear when she sees the busted down door of her mom's bedroom inside the bed in breakfast. Also imagine her horror when she sees the blood all over her mother's room.

Starting point is 00:26:45 So Cynthia is oblivious to all the horrors that Selby is discovering upstairs because she's downstairs talking with Christian Nielsen, the murderer in another room. So Selby yells from her mother's room asking Nielsen if anything's happened to her mother, obviously, based on what she's discovered. So Cynthia begins running up to the room where Selby is and Christian Nilsen follows her up there. So Cynthia is walking and has her back to Christian Nilsen. It's at this point while she's running up to check on her friend that he pulls out his gun and open fires on Cynthia, shooting her in the back of the head. And

Starting point is 00:27:25 Selby is watching from her mother's bloody room seeing all of this. Nilsen then shoots Selby in the head as well. So according to South Coast today.com, Nilsen said he dragged the two bodies outside and cut them up with the borrowed chains. Oh my gosh. This isn't this is insane. Like why is he got to do that after one? This is absolutely insane. He says he cut both women's fingers off and removed their rings, placing them in his duffel bag. I'm sure for identification purposes or maybe he's just weird

Starting point is 00:27:55 and wanted to keep their fingers. He also claims that he wanted to steal their jewelry. So instead of just taking the rings off, he just cut the other side. I can't wait with this point. He thinks he's going to get away with this. I know. So either before or after he cuts them up with the rings off, he just cut the other side. I can't wait with this point. He thinks he's gonna get away with this. I know. So either before or after he cuts them up with the chain saw, he also kills all three dogs on the property as well, which, oh my. I just had to include because it just goes to prove

Starting point is 00:28:17 that he just wanted to kill. Yeah. Like this is just bad. It's just bad. All of these were Julie's dogs. Like I said earlier, who knows for how long he's been wanting to just kill? Right.

Starting point is 00:28:30 So after killing and dismembering Selby and Cynthia, Nielsen then calls his dad and tells Charles that he's now running the B&B because Julie is away in California. So he calls his dad and is like, hey, remember the owner, Julie? Yeah, well, she's away in California, so I'm dad is like, hey, remember the owner, Julie? Yeah, well, she's away in California. So I'm now in charge of the bed and breakfast. He claims, Julie actually

Starting point is 00:28:50 put me in charge. Some reports say that Nilsen at this point invites his dad over to the bed and breakfast. He's now running. Some make it sound like Charles comes over to investigate after this odd sounding phone call. So either way, he either comes over because he's invited or he comes over because it just sounded suspicious. In any event, this phone call prompts his dad and his dad's wife Lee Graham to come over to the bed and breakfast. I'm gonna say they went over because they were a little suspicious.

Starting point is 00:29:16 I'm sure at this point, you know your son's a little off. Right. Like why would you leave you? Yeah. Yeah. And they live about 13 miles away from the Black Bear Bend breakfast. So it's just about 5.30 p.m. Christian Nilsen's dad, Charles, and his stepmother arrive at the Black Bear. And as soon as they get there, and apparently even as they're still pulling up in the car, they see what looks like a long fresh trail of blood outside in the grass of the home

Starting point is 00:29:46 This is from where Nilson had been dragging the bodies which again Whether he invited them or not you still haven't cleaned up. I Don't think I mean, I guess it's on a acres. He's out there He probably doesn't think you know what I mean I don't think he's the smartest person in the first place right right so Charles follows the trail to behind the black bear where he finds the bodies of the two women that Nielsen had just killed Charles confronts his son while Lee calls the police and Lee actually calls the police twice the first time she calls to say that her husband has seen a dead body and that they think the son is responsible and then she calls the police twice. The first time she calls to say that her husband has seen a dead body and that they think

Starting point is 00:30:26 the son is responsible. And then she calls the police again to say, never mind, it's not just these two bodies. He's saying he's murdered four people. There's another body on the property, which would be Julie. And then also Jimmy up in Upton. I don't want to say props, but we have had cases in the password parents cover up. Yeah, we're instantly go there's no way my son did this. Right. And they immediately called police. I'm guessing though maybe

Starting point is 00:30:54 there were weird signs when he was growing up because it seems like his dad was instantly saying, okay. Something where it's going. My dad my son did this. Right. That was his first initial thought. It wasn't, oh, like, are you, are you okay? Did someone else do this? Yeah, are you in danger? It was like, oh, my son just killed some people. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what, there's a solution that can help you find clarity and confidence.

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Starting point is 00:32:23 with law enforcement, the day of the murders. And after his confession, Nelson himself leads law enforcement to the murder and burn site of Jimmy in the Upton Woods. At the exact spot where Nelson leads them, they find a fire pit. And it's hard to tell from the naked eye that a body has been burned there, but an expert friends, again, their polygists will later test and determine that the fire pit does in fact contain the remains of a human being. This is where Jimmy's remains are found.

Starting point is 00:32:52 Police search Nilson's car inside the black bear B&B and all around the grounds as well. And investigators will work all night going over everything with a fine tooth comb gathering evidence, even though they have a confession. When you have a confession like this, I think a thought runs through detectives brains where what if he pleads insanity? So then they want to comb every inch of that house

Starting point is 00:33:15 to see if the premeditation, or if there's anything they can find to state otherwise. Police find and recover Nilsen's gun that he just bought, which is the murder weapon weapon. Also it seems almost too easy. Right. I'm saying like, oh he just confessed all this like an open and shut case and I'm sure that makes a tech just go now what's going on. What is happening? It cannot be this easy. Police also sees bullets, bullet casings, the women's jewelry and bone chips during the search. The medical examiners and detectives

Starting point is 00:33:50 recover the bodies of the three women from the black bear B&B that same evening. And while all of this is happening, the forsell sign is still posted out front because Julie had been planning to sell this. So sad. So like you, police are like, okay, what? Who is this kid?

Starting point is 00:34:08 What's going on here? Who is this kid? What happened? We need to learn about him. When did this start? Does someone really randomly just hacksaw and kill four people for fun? So the police delve into Christian Nelson's background.

Starting point is 00:34:23 And this is what they learn. Christian Charles Nelson was born on May 2, 1975 to Charles Nelson and Patricia Nelson. He is 31 years old at the times that he committed these murders. The police learned that Nelson and his youngest sister had a pretty rocky childhood. Their parents divorced in 1981, Nelson was just five.

Starting point is 00:34:43 His childhood will be dictated by custody battles and his parents' various marriages and divorces. Nelson's dad Charles fought to get custody of his two children based on the mom's emotional instability as well as her ill-advised relationship with a man named Michael Lueh, who had been in and out of state prison for burglary and other property related crimes. Now, Nilsen's mom is struggling with mental health issues and in 1982, a court rules that Nilsen and his sister will live with their father, not their mother. Okay.

Starting point is 00:35:14 After living with his father, Nilsen graduates high school in 1991 from Mount Blue High School. Around this time, Charles, his father, Mary's a third time, this time to lead Graham, the stepmom who called the police. Nielsen attends the University of Maine in Farmington, but his attendance in college is erratic throughout 2001 to 2005, and he doesn't earn a degree. So Christian Nielsen is known to have problems with alcohol at this point in his life. Prior to the case, he worked as a cook at another restaurant but had gotten fired and it's not clear what led to him being fired. Nelson's only known criminal record prior to the quadruple murder is for drunk driving.

Starting point is 00:35:58 He was arrested once and it's not clear if he's even convicted but he loses his driver's license the year before the murderers. And he has some other driving offenses on his record. People who knew him as an adult describe him as moody, unpredictable, and aimless, but overall thought he was harmless. He's also described as kind of smart. The owner of a bookstore in Farmington says that Christian Nelson was a frequent customer, according to a co-owner of the Sudbury Inn,

Starting point is 00:36:25 which is where he cooked, quote, he was reliable and a soft-spoken and quiet guy, I was surprised and shocked that this happened. It's so interesting, I wouldn't have expected that. Right. Usually there's some sort of, you know, signs or something going on. The triad, like, oh,

Starting point is 00:36:42 yeah, especially with something this brutal, right? There's usually something going on. The triad, like, oh, yeah, especially with something this brutal, right? There's usually something going on. Violence, something. On Tuesday, September 5th, 2006, the day after his arresting confession, Christian Nelson has charged and arraigned on four counts of murder before a judge at the Oxford County Superior Court.

Starting point is 00:37:01 He appears to be smirking in various photos throughout this. So he literally just got arrested for this murder and in court he's smirking and acting just cocky. Did he like go insane? Like this is kind of a confusing one. Right. On September 30th, a celebration of life is held for the mother daughter Julian Selby Bullard in San Francisco. And in December 2006, Christian Nielsen cuts an X into his own scalp using a disposable razor. So he's placed on suicide watch at gel because of this. At some point in early 2007, while awaiting trial, Christian Nielsen embarks on a

Starting point is 00:37:40 hunger strike and he loses 55 pounds goes from 158 pounds to 103 pounds. At this point I assume they have the force feed him correct? Probably yeah. Because of this, Nilsson is ordered to be transferred to a psychiatric center, but he isn't healthy enough to do so while on the hunger strike. And then he gets put on a feeding tube. Okay. After this his attorney changes Christian Nilsen's plea from not guilty to not criminally responsible. The grounds for this are that he allegedly lacked the mental capacity to voluntarily waive his right to remain silent. In early July 2007 there is a two-day hearing on the motion and the judge rules for the prosecution and denies the defense's motion to exclude his confession.

Starting point is 00:38:26 All except for one statement, the one where he told Trooper Hanson that it had been a while since he had committed the murders. So they believe he's competent to stand trial. He ends up pleading guilty. So the trial isn't necessary. And on October 18th, 2007, Christian Nelson is sentenced to life in prison.

Starting point is 00:38:46 Justice Robert Crowley, in pronouncing the sentence, says, When all is said and done, Christian Nelson has committed for of the worst criminal acts in recent main history. In their sentencing brief, prosecutors write that Nelson could provide no motive, but that he'd just been obsessed with killing someone that he wanted to take over running the black bear B&B. According to an article by Clark Canfield, Selby's Bullards 10-year-old son wrote a victim impact statement called, How My Life Changed and I Was Forever Wounded. He and his sister have lost both their mother and their grandmother only two years after moving to Maine because of the loss of their father. Remember their father died in the car accident.

Starting point is 00:39:26 In 2009, the new owners of the Black Bear property seek permission to transition the property into four condos, saying it's too difficult to continue to rent out as a bed at breakfast. Oh, man. I don't even know how. Yeah. Yeah, that would be hard.. Like I terror the whole building down. Christian Nielsen is currently incarcerated at main state prisons serving out his life sentence. And he's never shown any remorse for his crimes. One of Julie's friends has said of Julie, she loved Maine and she felt very safe in Maine and she didn't really want to leave, but for economic reasons she was going to sell the bed and breakfast and share a house with her daughter.

Starting point is 00:40:06 It's tragic that she and her daughter and her daughter's best friend and her live-in handyman would meet such a violent end at the hands of a mass murderer. According to The New York Times, officials described the four-day rampage over the Labor Day weekend as the largest multiple homicide in Maine since an arson fire killed four in Portland 14 years earlier. As quoted in the New York Times, this is a particularly gruesome and unusual type of crime. It's a crime of horrific proportions. Selby's kids have now lost both their parents. All four victims left behind grieving children, and no matter how many life sentences Christian, Nelson serves, nothing can make up for these four beautiful and innocent lives

Starting point is 00:40:52 that were taken away much too soon. And did we ever figure out why the parents were bloody and muddy? Probably just from going and finding the bodies. I mean, it never said that they had any part in it, but I'm gonna assume because they called police when we're so open about it, they were clear of any suspicion. Oh, that's, there was literally no reason. The reason was that he just wanted to kill,

Starting point is 00:41:14 and I don't know how you even combat that. Like, what are you supposed to... It goes back to the question, good and evil. Like serial killers like that, it blows something I won't be able to comprehend. Right. He just wanted to know what it felt like. It wasn't like he killed his family.

Starting point is 00:41:33 It wasn't like there was no motive. The motive was I wanted to kill random people. Well, it started with Jimmy that weekend, and then it just kept going. And then like the best friend, Cynthia, she left behind a husband and a child. Yeah, they all left behind kids. Is it every single one, correct?

Starting point is 00:41:51 So sad. So devastating. But that is the case of the murders at the B&B. And we will see you next week with another regular episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye. week with another regular episode. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye!

Murder With My Husband - 159. The Bed and Breakfast Massacre

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