A chilling confession shattered the quiet of a North Carolina night. Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, called 911, uttering words no emergency dispatcher ever wants to hear: he had killed his children.
Deputies arrived at the Zebulon home just after 10 p.m. on October 27th, finding Dickens alongside his surviving 3-year-old son. Inside the garage, a horrifying discovery awaited – the remains of four children concealed within the trunk of a vehicle.
The 911 call, a haunting record of a father’s admission, revealed a disturbing explanation. Dickens reportedly attributed the tragedy to “over-disciplining,” a phrase that belied the unimaginable horror he had inflicted.
Investigators soon learned the scope of the devastation extended beyond the garage. Dickens allegedly confessed to burying a fifth child in the woods behind the house, an infant whose death had never been reported.
The deaths weren’t a sudden act, but a series of events unfolding over months. Authorities believe the killings began in May and continued until September, a slow descent into darkness.
Sheriff Steve Bizzell, visibly shaken, expressed the incomprehensible nature of the crime. “As a father and a grandfather,” he stated, “there’s no reason for a father to murder his children.”
Neighbors described the Dickens family as intensely private, the children always kept at home and homeschooled. They rarely ventured outside, their lives confined within the walls of the house where tragedy unfolded.
The family had experienced prior loss; Dickens’ wife, Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens, died in April from complications following a miscarriage. This loss may have contributed to the unfolding horror, though the full picture remains unclear.
The search for the fifth child’s remains will resume when weather permits, a grim task for investigators already deeply affected by the case. The emotional toll on first responders is immense, a haunting reminder of the darkness that can exist within families.
Details surrounding the children’s deaths remain under investigation by the state medical examiner’s office. The quest for answers continues, seeking to understand the unimaginable circumstances that led to this devastating loss.
This case has left an indelible mark on those involved, a stark reminder of the fragility of life and the profound responsibility of parenthood. The community is left grappling with a tragedy that defies explanation.
