Man Calls 911, Says He Killed 4 of His Kids

A North Carolina man who told authorities that he had killed four of his children and that the bodies were in the trunk of a vehicle at his home was charged with murder after sheriff's deputies found human remains in his garage.

• Wellington Delano Dickens III is being held without bond in the Johnston County Jail, Johnston County Sheriff's Office said in a news release posted on Facebook. The 38-year-old has been charged with four counts of murder, the AP reports.

• Dickens, of Zebulon, about 25 miles east of Raleigh, called 911 on Monday evening and told the operator that he had killed the children, the statement said.
• Johnston County deputies responded and found Dickens' 3-year-old son unharmed inside the residence. A preliminary investigation found what are believed to be "multiple bodies" in the trunk of a vehicle in the garage and that the remains had been there for a long period of time, the release said.
• The sheriff's office said investigators believe Dickens killed three of his biological children, ages 6, 9, and 10, and his 18-year-old stepchild. The State Medical Examiner's Office is involved to confirm the identification of the remains.
• Charles Moore, Dickens' great-uncle, tells WRAL that he seemed "fine" when he last saw him around a year ago. He says Dickens is an Iraq War veteran, and "he had a problem ever since he came back, I think."
• "Like anybody else I was just shocked," Moore says. "You hear it, talk about it happening to other people. You just wouldn't think it would happen to one of your own."
• Dickens' wife, Stephanie, died in April 2024, and Dickens said five children lived in their Zebulon home, according to court records from his wife's estate. Her death came just over a year after Dickens' father died when his car crashed into a box truck in Lee County, North Carolina, according to court records.