Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said Tuesday that Wellington Delano Dickens III, who is charged with killing three of his children and a stepson, committed the crimes over a period of months.
Remains of the four children were found Monday in the trunk of a car at the Dickens home on Springtooth Drive in Zebulon. Dickens called 911 to report that he had killed the children.
Dickens, 38, is charged with four counts of murder.
On Tuesday, Bizzell laid out the timeline of the deaths, which he said was based on investigation and interviews.
Investigators have determined that Leah Dickens, 6, was killed first, sometime in May 2025.
Zoe Dickens, 9, was killed in August 2025.
Wellington Dickens IV, was killed in late August or early September.
Sean Brasfield, Dickens’ 18-year-old stepson, died last, sometime in September, Bizzell said.
A 3-year-old child was found alive in the home. Dickens was arrested Monday and is being held without bond at the Johnston County jail.
‘I killed my children’: Zebulon father tells 911 dispatcher he killed his four children
On Wednesday, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office released the recording of Dickens’ 911 call.
“I killed my children,” Dickens said. “It’s a lot to explain,
but in a nutshell, it’s probably my fault … I’m not even going … It’s my fault.
It’s bad.”
He continued, “It just started as me over-disciplining.”
A dispatcher asked Dickens how he killed his children.
“I beat on them sometimes,” Dickens said. “They didn’t want
to eat. I didn’t force them to eat. I’ve told them it was a punishment not to eat. I did a bunch
of different little things.”
He told the dispatcher that he did not use a knife or gun to kill the children.
“I’m trying to just do the right thing,” Dickens told the dispatcher.
Dickens told the dispatcher he was not carrying any weapons
but did admit to having knives at his home.
He said, “If you want me to … I’ll come outside in my underwear. I
don’t know what you all need me to be. I’m willing to do whatever you need me
to do. I’ve never had this in my life.”
When the dispatcher asked Dickens he had drunk any alcohol or
done any drugs, Dickens said he smoked and sipped champagne before making the call.
“It wasn’t up to me. Like, I had … God influenced me. Like,
that’s it,” Dickens said. “It wasn’t me ’cause I got nervous, and I didn’t do it
when I was supposed and I was being a coward.”
Dickens said the situation in his home had “spiraled.”
“I just can’t take it [anymore],” Dickens said. “I never did
this before. This stuff is crazy. And, I got my son, and I just feel guilty,
guilty as hell.”
The dispatcher informed Dickens there was a deputy outside
his home.
Investigators still trying to determine a motive
Bizzell said investigators had yet to determine a motive for the deaths. He added, “As the sheriff, as a father and as a grandfather, I can stand here and say there is no reason for a father to murder his children.”
Dickens was a widower caring for the five children. His wife, Stephanie Dickens, died at home on April 21, 2024, Bizzell said. She was 37.
Deputies were called to the home on that night and found that Stephanie Dickens, who was pregnant at the time of her death, died from complications of a miscarriage. Dickens told authorities his wife had been bleeding excessively the night before her death, but that she refused to go to the hospital for medical treatment.
The couple had a history of refusing medical treatment, records show.
In 2016, WakeMed reported the family to the North Carolina Division of Social Services, claiming that Dickens and his wife refused medical care for their newborn baby girl against doctors’ orders and left the hospital. The couple and the baby girl did not return for a follow-up appointment, the documents show.
According to the documents, WakeMed said the baby girl suffered from jaundice, a condition that could cause brain damage in newborns.
When social workers showed up to Dickens’ home on Aug. 23, 2016, he refused to let them see the child. He refused to let social workers see the child on subsequent visits.
Authorities eventually arrested Dickens, and he was jailed until he complied with a judge’s order. He told his wife to take their daughter to a clinic.