PARIS – Christian Nielsen decided Tuesday morning to plead guilty to murdering four people over Labor Day weekend last year, canceling a trial that was set to begin Thursday.

However, the four guilty pleas can be withdrawn if Nielsen wins appeals on pretrial rulings that favored the prosecution, and a judge could order a trial.

Oxford County Superior Court Justice Robert E. Crowley asked him if he understood the benefits of a jury trial, including the possibility that the jury would accept his insanity plea, find him guilty of manslaughter or be unable to reach a decision.

“I do want to avoid a trial, because the outcome would be guilty, more than likely,” Nielsen said. “It’s not exactly rigorous, but it’s not pleasant.”

Dressed in a white, long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, the 32-year-old former Newry resident faces 25 years to life in prison for each of the grisly killings when he is sentenced Thursday, Oct. 18, by Crowley.

Nielsen was living at the Black Bear Bed & Breakfast at 829 Sunday River Road in Newry and working as a cook in Bethel when he committed the crimes. He pleaded guilty to shooting inn guest James Whitehurst, 50, of Batesville, Ark., on Sept. 1, 2006; inn owner Julie Bullard, 65, of Newry, on Sept. 3, 2006; her daughter Selby Bullard, 30, of Bethel, on Sept. 4; and her daughter’s friend Cindy Beatson, 43, of Bethel, also on Sept. 4.

Nielsen told police at the time of the killings that he shot Whitehurst after inviting him to go on a fishing trip. He said he killed Julie Bullard to prevent suspicion about Whitehurst’s disappearance, and Selby Bullard and Beatson were killed when they arrived and asked where Julie was. Nielsen was taken into custody at the inn hours later.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said the only sign of a motive for Whitehurst’s murder was that Nielsen found him “objectionable.”

Nielsen told the judge Tuesday that he’d and his attorneys had discussed a motive for Whitehurst’s killing, but, “We never came up with anything concrete.”

Whitehurst’s body was found burned and buried in C Surplus, an unorganized territory next to Upton, while the women’s bodies were found with bullet wounds and dismembered at the inn. Nielsen also said he killed three dogs at the inn.

Nielsen’s four guilty pleas supersede earlier pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, but he retains his right to appeal Crowley’s decisions to deny a defense motion to suppress statements and to find Nielsen competent to stand trial.

In July, Crowley determined that statements Nielsen made to law enforcement authorities on Sept. 4, 2006, were admissible, denying the defense’s request to suppress them. The statements included admitting to the murders and directions to Whitehurst’s body.

In September, Crowley determined that though Nielsen suffers from schizoid personality disorder and an eating disorder, he was competent to stand trial. The 6-foot-tall defendant then stopped eating and dropped to 106 pounds, resuming after facing the possibility of a feeding tube.

He told the judge Tuesday that he weighed 116 pounds.

If the defense succeeds in challenging either the motion to suppress or the finding on Nielsen’s competency, Nielsen will be able to withdraw the guilty plea.

Defense attorney Ron Hoffman said Tuesday that Nielsen made the decision to plead guilty to the killings earlier in the morning.

“He has a right to do what he wants to do,” Hoffman said.”We respect that.”

Jury selection had been scheduled for today.

Benson said if the trial had occurred:

• Frank Lynch, an employee at a gun shop in Hanover, would have testified that Nielsen purchased a .38-caliber revolver prior to the shootings.

• Charles Nielsen of Woodstock, Christian’s father, would have testified that Nielsen told him Bullard had gone to San Francisco and he would be running the inn. Benson said Charles and his wife, Lee Graham, went to the inn in the late afternoon on Sept. 4, 2006, and discovered the dismembered bodies of two of the women and confronted Nielsen, who admitted to killing four people.

• Maine State Police Trooper Dan Hanson and Detective Jennifer King would have testified that Nielsen admitted to the killings.

• Norman Lewis of the Maine Warden Service would have testified that Nielsen told him where to find Whitehurst’s body.

• Medical examiners would have testified that Julie Bullard died of multiple gunshot wounds, and the others of single gunshot wounds to the head.

• Other state police personnel would have testified that the bullets found in the victims matched Nielsen’s revolver, that bloodstained cutting tools and clothing were found at the inn and in Nielsen’s car, that the blood on the tools matched the victims’ and that Nielsen’s DNA was on the clothing.

Dianna Taylor, Whitehurst’s sister, said she was glad Nielsen pleaded guilty.

“I have no love for this man. I’m sorry. But his day will come,” she said. “There was no sense in doing what he did.”

“I wish he was dead,” said Juanita Whitehurst, James’ mother.

Charles Nielsen declined to comment, as did the family of Cindy Beatson.

Hoffman had previously said that he worried that Nielsen would get killed or seriously injured in prison, and hoped to have him incarcerated at a mental institution.

“It’s not a satisfying outcome,” Hoffman said. “I personally don’t feel comfortable with it from a human standpoint.”

Hoffman said he will try to get Nielsen admitted to the Maine State Prison in Warren, which has a psychiatric ward. He said Nielsen may continue to be held at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta if the competency issue resurfaces.

He said he will make a decision on whether to appeal Crowley’s earlier decision within the next couple of weeks.