ZEBULON, N.C.—A North Carolina father is now behind bars. He is facing four counts of murder. The charges stem from a shocking confession he made to police.
Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, called 911 late on Monday, October 27. The call came in at 10:09 p.m. to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.
“I killed my children,” Dickens allegedly told the dispatcher in a chilling recording released two days later. “It’s a lot to explain, but in a nutshell, it’s all my fault.”
The call was disjointed. “It’s bad,” he admitted. He mentioned “overdisciplining.” He specified, “I didn’t like use knives or nothing to cut nobody or shoot nobody.”
Deputies rushed to his Zebulon home.
When they arrived, Dickens reportedly told them his 3-year-old son was still alive inside the house. But the man then delivered the unimaginable news. His four other children, he claimed, were dead. They were in the trunk of a car parked in his garage.
The 3-year-old was found unharmed. He was later taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
The nightmare was just beginning in the garage.
Authorities immediately secured the scene. They found what the Sheriff’s Office described as decomposing “human remains in the trunk.” The bodies, they noted, had been there “for a long period of time.”
Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell held a press conference on October 29. The situation, he said, was not a single, instantaneous crime. “The investigation revealed that the victims were slain one by one over a span of time,” Bizzell stated.
The victims were identified as Dickens’ biological children: Leah Dickens, 6, allegedly killed in May 2025; Zoe Dickens, 9, killed in August 2025; and Wellington Dickens IV, 10, killed in late August or early September 2025. Also among the dead was his stepson, Sean Brasfield, 18, killed in September 2025.
Sheriff Bizzell also revealed that all five children were homeschooled.
The bodies await positive identification and autopsies. They are currently with the State Medical Examiner’s Office. Dickens is being held at the Johnston County Jail. He has been denied bond. He is awaiting his next court appearance.