Wellington Delano Dickens ex military vet in Zebulon, North Carolina calls cops to say he killed his four kids. A surviving child is found alive as its revealed his other children were killed over a process of months apart and their bodies discarded in a car trunk. Children’s mother died last year.
A 38-year-old man from North Carolina has been arrested after admitting during a 911 call that he took the lives of his four children.
Wellington Delano Dickens III a former Iraq military veteran called emergency dispatchers around 10 p.m. Monday, October 29, telling them what he had done.
Deaths of four children happened months apart
Upon arriving at the man’s Zebulon address, first responders with the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said they located Dickens’ 3-year-old son ‘unharmed in the residence.’ A further search of the property led to the discovery of ‘multiple bodies in the trunk of a vehicle in the garage,’ according to detectives.
Investigators found the remains of four children believed to have been there for months. Authorities confirmed the victims were Dickens’ biological children — Leah (6), Zoe (9), Wellington Jr. (10) and his 18-year-old stepson, Sean Brasfield.
According to court documents, the killings happened months apart, starting in May and continuing through September this year. All the children were home schooled.
Police also revealed Dickens had a troubled past with child welfare services. Records show that in 2016, he and his late wife Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens were accused of neglecting a newborn after refusing medical care.
Records show Dickens’ wife, Stephanie Dickens, died in April 2024 due to medical complications. Investigators say she was three months pregnant at the time and refused hospital treatment despite heavy bleeding.
North Carolina dad and former military veteran dealing with mental health issues
At the time of her death, the mother left behind five children who continued living in the family’s Zebulon home according to USA Today.
Dickens’ great-uncle, Charles Moore, told WRAL-TV that the Iraq War veteran ‘seemed fine’ when he last saw him about a year ago.
‘Like anybody else I was just shocked,’ Moore told the outlet. ‘You hear it, talk about it happening to other people. You just wouldn’t think it would happen to one of your own.’
However, Moore acknowledged Dickens wasn’t the same after serving in the military.
‘We know he had a little problem,’ Moore said. ‘He was in the service, and he had a problem ever since he came back, I think.’
Not immediately clear is how the father was able to provide for his children.
Dickens was arraigned Tuesday afternoon and charged with first-degree murder.
Authorities are now waiting for the medical examiner’s report to determine how the children died.
The defendant is currently being held in the Johnston County Jail without bond.
If convicted, Dickens faces a maximum sentence of life without parole or the death penalty.
