Dad Who Had 4 Children’ Our bodies in Trunk Reveals How They Died, Toddler Buried in Yard: Police

In line with a number of media retailers together with Fox’s WGHP, NBC’s WRAL, and CBS’s WBTV, new search warrants reveal that Wellington Delano Dickens III admitted to the fifth deceased little one after he was arrested and charged with 4 counts of first-degree homicide in Zebulon, North Carolina for the deaths of his three organic kids, aged 5, 9, and 10, and one stepchild, 18.

Wellington was arrested on October 27, revealing to police on the time that his one remaining little one, a 3-year-old son, was inside the home, whereas 4 extra kids, all deceased, had been “contained in the trunk of a automobile within the storage of the residence,” per a press launch from the Johnston County Sheriff’s Workplace.

Whereas an actual timeline stays unclear, deputies decided that the human stays discovered within the trunk “had been there for a protracted time frame.” Per a warrant by way of USA At present, the date of the offenses was listed as Could 1.

Dickens’ October arrest got here a few yr and a half after the demise of his spouse, Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens. In line with her obituary, Stephanie “handed away instantly at her house” in April 2024, forsaking her husband and 5 kids. She was reportedly pregnant on the time of her demise, per WRAL, dying from problems of a miscarriage.

In line with the warrant, Dickens insisted he by no means tortured his kids, however believes he “over-disciplined” them, in keeping with WBTV. He mentioned as a lot within the launched 911 calls, the place he first advised the dispatcher he’d killed his kids.

“It’s rather a lot to clarify, however in a nutshell, it’s in all probability my fault … I’m not even going … It’s my fault. It’s unhealthy,” he mentioned. “It simply began as me over-disciplining.” When requested how he killed them, Dickens responded, “I beat on them generally. They didn’t wish to eat. I didn’t power them to eat. I’ve advised them it was a punishment to not eat. I did a bunch of various little issues.”

After insisting he didn’t use a gun or knife to kill them, Dickens mentioned, “I am making an attempt to simply do the precise factor,” including that he did not name “once I was supposed and I used to be being a coward.” He advised the dispatcher, per the decision, that the scenario within the house had “spiraled” and “I obtained my son, and that i simply really feel responsible, responsible as hell.”

In line with the brand new arrest warrants, Dickens laid out a tough concept of how and when his kids died, saying that the primary little one to die was 5-year-old Leah Dickens, with Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell telling the press on October 28, per WRAL on the time, that her demise occurred someday in Could 2025. Dickens allegedly mentioned he disciplined her and when he went to verify on her later, she was useless.

Her 9-year-old sister Zoe Dickens was the subsequent to die, with Dickens saying that she’d started asking about her sister. In response, he admitted that he taped her mouth shut to self-discipline her sooner or later in August 2025, in keeping with Bizzell, however when he returned to verify on her later she was additionally useless.

When questioned about his sons, Dickens mentioned that his 10-year-old, Wellington Dickens IV, was the subsequent little one who died. Dickens mentioned that he was instructing his son to field and the boys stopped consuming, main him to imagine that his son died from malnutrition. Bizzell mentioned this demise occurred in both late August or early September 2025, with 18-year-old Sean Brasfield, who Dickens additionally mentioned died from malnutrition, following later in September.

Moreover, per the paperwork, Dickens advised investigators that he and his spouse had a fifth organic little one that they’d named Riley. This little one, he mentioned, died shortly after the household moved into the house the place the opposite kids’s our bodies had been present in Could 2023.

Dickens mentioned, per the warrant, that the infant was a few month outdated when their well being began to say no. He didn’t supply a transparent purpose for why the kid died, however mentioned that afterward, he wrapped the physique in paper or plastic materials and buried it in a four-foot-deep grave in a wooded space behind the house.

In interviews with members of the family, they mentioned they’d by no means seen, heard from or about Riley after the household moved, per WRAL. It was additionally famous that at no time was Riley’s demise reported.

It was partly looking for this child that investigators secured a warrant to look Dickens’ house, with they executed this previous Wednesday. Whereas they discovered no signal of the infant’s grave or physique.

Detectives did, nonetheless, decide that a lot of the inside of the home had lately been repainted — a “hasty paint job,” they described it — and reported discovering an “uncommon quantity” of cleansing provides within the house. The warrants notice that they uncovered Amazon searches for a sort of paint that may cowl up stains. Police said within the paperwork they wish to herald chemical compounds that would reveal any bloodstains that is likely to be beneath the paint.

Authorities have mentioned that there’s not enough proof so as to add any further costs for the alleged demise of the one-month-old child presently, however their investigation is ongoing.

Dickens is already going through potential life in jail with out the chance for parole for every of the 4 homicide costs he new faces. His surviving son has been positioned in protecting custody via the Division of Social Providers, per WBTV.

Dickens stays behind bars together with his subsequent scheduled court docket look for December 4.