On Monday evening, a chilling phone call to emergency services in the quiet suburb of Zebulon, North Carolina set in motion a case that has left a community stunned. Forty-year-old (38, according to records) Wellington Delano Dickens III dialed 911 and told the operator he had killed his children. Deputies from the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office responded swiftly to the home on Springtooth Drive, where they found Dickens’ 3-year-old son safe inside—but the scene inside the attached garage was horrifying.
Inside the trunk of a vehicle parked in the garage, deputies discovered what the sheriff’s office described as “multiple bodies,” believed to be human remains that had been there for an extended period. According to arrest warrants filed later, the victims were three of Dickens’ biological children—aged 6, 9 and 10—and his 18-year-old stepchild. Dickens was booked Tuesday afternoon at the Johnston County Jail on four counts of first-degree murder, held without bond.
Court documents and media reports offer a glimpse into a family deeply burdened by loss. Dickens’ wife, Stephanie, died in April 2024; court filings related to her estate indicate that five children were living in their home at the time. His father also died in a car crash in 2023 in Lee County, North Carolina. According to Dickens’ great-uncle, Charles Moore, Dickens served in the Iraq War, and Moore suggested that his nephew had struggled since returning.
Neighbors described a house that had become increasingly isolated in recent months. One nearby resident recalled seeing the children walking to and from the school bus, “but I never saw them out playing.” Another neighbor, Terry Fuller, had mowed the family’s lawn a few times, remarking how close-knit the newer subdivision had grown—and how surprising it was that no one had stepped in when things evidently went dark.
Investigators with the State Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina are assisting the sheriff’s office as detectives work to piece together the timeline. According to the arrest warrants, officials believe the children were killed on May 1, 2024, though the investigation is ongoing and some identities and details are still being confirmed. In court, Dickens was informed that a first-degree murder conviction carries the maximum penalties of life without parole or the death penalty in North Carolina. He is scheduled to appear next in court in November.
For the surviving 3-year-old, life has changed forever, and the broader community that once greeted the family in apparent isolation now faces a sorrow that resounds far beyond the quiet cul-de-sac. “My heart just breaks for the children, and for the 3-year-old that’s left because he has no parents or siblings left,” said a nearby neighbor. As the investigation presses on, Zebulon, once known for its tobacco roots and small town calm, now wrestles with a horror its streets will not forget.