Warrants detail how NC father says he killed his 4 children

Virginia Bridges, The News & Observer on Nov 18, 2025

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ZEBULON, N.C. — Wellington Dickens III told deputies how he killed his four children in the months before he called 911 to report their bodies stashed in a vehicle’s trunk at his Zebulon home, recently released search warrants reveal.

Dickens faces four counts of first-degree murder in a tragedy he first revealed when he called 911 last month.

Dickens, 39, told the 911 operator he killed his three biological children and his stepson, ages 3 to 18, over a period of several months.

“I didn’t, like, use knives or nothing to cut nobody or shoot nobody,” Dickens, 39, told a 911 dispatcher on Oct. 27 at just after 10 p.m. “I just started out as me over-disciplining.”

After deputies arrived at the home, the search warrants revealed, Dickens shared some vague details with them about how he killed his children, the warrants state.

He killed Leah Dickens, a 5-year-old, first, he told deputies, the warrants state. She died in May, the Johnston’s Sheriff’s Office has estimated. Dickens had disciplined Leah, he said, and later found her dead when he checked on her in her room, the warrants state.

Nine-year-old Zoe, who the Sheriff’s Office estimated died in August, was next, Dickens said. Zoe began making comments about her sister’s death, so Dickens taped her mouth shut. When he checked on her, she was dead, Dickens told the deputies, the warrants say.

Dickens’ namesake, Wellington, 10, was the third to die, he said. The Sheriff’s Office estimated he died in late August or early September. Dickens believed that Wellington died from malnutrition, the warrants say.

The final child to die was Dickens’ stepson, Sean Brasfield. The 18-year-old was blind in one eye and had cerebral palsy, Sean’s father told The News & Observer recently. The Sheriff’s Office estimated that Sean died in September. Sean also died from malnutrition, Dickens said.

Dickens 3-year-old son was found alive inside the house. Deputies found the other children’s remains in a bag in the trunk of a vehicle parked in the home’s two-car garage, the warrants state.

Sean Brasfield in an undated photo provided by his father.

Five warrants outline new details

Five warrants were made public on Monday allowing deputies to search Dickens’ home at 101 Springtooth Drive.

They sought clothing, weapons, blood, human remains and other evidence, the warrants state.

They also sought to search Dickens’ backyard, a neighboring property, two of Dickens’ Facebook accounts and his Amazon account history, the warrants state.

Some of the items deputies collected included an urn with Stephanie Dickens’ ashes, photographs, paperwork, and a vehicle.

Dickens married Stephanie in August 2015 and the couple purchased a two-story home in Zebulon in May 2023, The News & Observer has reported.

Three months pregnant at the time, she died in April 2024 from complications of a miscarriage, the Johnston sheriff has said.

Dickens reveals death of fifth child

Dickens told deputies that after he and Stephanie moved to their Zebulon home, their youngest child’s health declined before dying.

Dickens told deputies he buried one-month-old Riley in the woods behind his house, wrapped in paper or plastic material, the warrant states.

Riley’s death was never reported to medical or law enforcement officials, the warrants say. And family members said they never saw Riley after the baby was born.

Deputies searched Dickens’ backyard and a neighboring property, but didn’t find Riley’s remains, the warrants state

While inspecting Dickens’ home, investigators noted a “hasty paint job,” finding fresh paint on the walls and baseboard in some areas. Investigators also found a recently used paint tray and roller in Dickens’s garage, the warrants state.

“With the information that is known with how the children were killed, this is considered to be unusual,” one of the search warrants states, without going into more detail.

Dickens placed an order on Amazon on Sept. 3, for white “Zinnser Covers Up Stain Sealing Paint,” the warrants state.

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