What happened in Newry and Upton over the holiday weekend deserves comment. But, little can be said to make sense of the senseless.

Maine State Police Chief Col. Craig Poulin called the quadruple murder at the former Black Bear Bed & Breakfast “a crime of horrific proportions.”

He’s right, but those words – any words – are inadequate to describe the emotional destruction of the people connected to this crime.

Dead are Julie Bullard, Selby Bullard, Cynthia Beatson and James Whitehurst.

Charged with these murders is Christian Nielsen, a seeming unremarkable 31-year-old who grew up and worked in the area.

These people are all in the immediate circle of destruction. Fanning away from that are children, a spouse, siblings, parents, friends, co-workers and Mainers who pride ourselves on our safe communities.

The question of how the victims were killed has been answered. The remaining question is why they died, and we doubt there’s a rational answer to that.

Newry is a small town with good people. It’s a place of great beauty and a solid economy. It is now also a place of great pain and confusion, a focus of this nation’s tremendous curiosity for gore, and there is absolutely nothing that can be said today that can ease the minds of the people who call Newry home.