A North Carolina man who allegedly confessed to killing four of his children earlier this week appeared to have spread the murders over a period of several months, authorities said on Oct. 29.

Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, was charged with four counts of murder on Oct. 28 and was being held without bond, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY and the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office said Dickens had called 911 on the night of Oct. 27 and admitted to killing children.

Deputies responded to a residence in Zebulon, a rural town about 25 miles east of Raleigh, and encountered Dickens, who told them that his 3-year-old son was inside the house and that four of his other children were dead inside the trunk of a vehicle in his garage, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

North Carolina authorities: Father confessed to killing his 4 children found in car trunk

Deputies found the 3-year-old boy alive and unharmed in the residence, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators believe Dickens killed three of his biological children — ages 6, 9, and 10 — as well as his 18-year-old stepchild, the sheriff’s office said.

The arrest warrants filed against Dickens indicated that the four children were killed on May 1. But during a news conference on Oct. 29, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said investigators now believe that the children had died in separate incidents over several months.

Bizzell said no motive has been identified, “but as the sheriff, as a father and as a grandfather, I can stand here and say there’s no reason for a father to murder his children.” The sheriff noted that the investigation remains ongoing and additional charges may be filed in the case.

Online court records show that Dickens appeared in court on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 for hearings on the murder counts. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 13, according to court records.

Sheriff: Investigators believe children died between May and September

Bizzell said at the news conference that authorities received a 911 call at around 10:09 p.m. local time Oct. 27 from Dickens, who stated that he had killed four of his children.

Dickens “pretty much called and said, ‘I’m here with my little 3-year-old son. I killed my four children. Their bodies were in the trunk of the car. I’ll be glad to go outside and wait for deputies. I’m not armed. I’m just ready to do what’s right,’” according to Bizzell.

When deputies arrived at the residence, Sheriff’s Capt. Don Pate said they smelled an odor that was “obvious of decay.” Pate added that the home was not well-kept, and there was evidence that someone had attempted to clean up the crime scene.

After responding deputies located Dickens and his 3-year-old son, Bizzell said a preliminary investigation revealed that the human remains found in the vehicle’s trunk had been there “for some time.” The department of social services also respond to the scene and took the 3-year-old boy for medical evaluation, according to Bizzell.

Investigators then obtained a search warrant and determined that Leah Dickens, 6, was the first child to be killed in May of this year, the sheriff said. Bizzell identified the other children as Zoe Dickens, 9, who died in August; Wellington Dickens, 10, who died in late August or early September; and Sean Brasfield, 18, who was killed in September.

The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation and the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner are assisting the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation. Bizzell added that the state medical examiner’s office was conducting autopsies to determine how the children died.

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Children were in ‘conditions that are unimaginable’

Investigators canvased the Dickens’ neighborhood on Oct. 28 and interviewed neighbors, according to Bizzell. Investigators learned that the children had been homeschooled.

“It appeared there wasn’t a lot of activity at the house,” the sheriff said. “I guess the father and the kids were living in the house, and they’re in conditions that are unimaginable.”

Pate said he believed the family was “very secluded” and Dickens’ extended family was not allowed to visit the children.

“They just stayed inside,” according to Pate. “The neighbors said they never saw them come outside, and they were homeschooled, so they were just confined to the house.”

Court records for the estate of Dickens’ wife, Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens, show that she died in April 2024, and the couple’s five children continued to live in their Zebulon residence. Jones Dickens had “passed away suddenly at her home,” according to her obituary.

Bizzell confirmed on Oct. 29 that deputies had responded to the couple’s home on April 21, 2024, to assist emergency medical services after Jones Dickens was found dead by her husband. At the time of the incident, Jones Dickens was three months pregnant and had “experienced excessive bleeding the night prior but refused to go for medical treatment,” Bizzell said.

Investigators later determined that Jones Dickens died of complications from a miscarriage, and doctors ruled her death as natural, according to the sheriff. Dickens’ wife died just over a year following his father’s death after his vehicle struck a box truck in Lee County, North Carolina, court records show.

Dickens’ great uncle Charles Moore told WRAL-TV on Oct. 28 that Dickens was an Iraq War veteran and that he last saw Dickens about a year ago. Moore said Dickens “seemed fine” at the time, the television station reported.

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A former South Carolina sheriff is expected to plead guilty Thursday to federal charges that he stole from his force’s benevolence fund and took pain medication that was supposed to be destroyed as part of a pill take-back program.

Former Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright signed a plea agreement last month with federal prosecutors on charges of conspiring to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and conspiring to commit wire fraud and obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation. He is scheduled to appear Thursday morning at the federal courthouse in Anderson.

Wright will be at least the 12th sheriff in South Carolina to be convicted or plead guilty to on-duty crimes in the past 15 years for misconduct ranging from extorting drug dealers to having inmates work at their homes to hiring a woman and then pressuring her to have sex.

Sheriffs run the law enforcement organizations in the state’s 46 counties. South Carolina law gives the elected officials wide latitude over how their money is spent, what crimes their agencies concentrate on stopping and who gets hired and fired. They also provide little oversight beyond a vote by the people of each county every four years.

Beyond abusing power, there is little in common among the convicted sheriffs. They’ve been in small rural agencies and big, urban ones. There was a scheme to create false police reports to help clients of a friend’s credit repair business. A sheriff took bribes to keep a restaurant owner’s employees from being deported. One covered up an illegal arrest. And another punched a woman in the face and stole her cellphone.

In Wright’s case, the former sheriff plundered the fund meant to help deputies who face financial difficulties, including once saying he needed cash to send an officer to Washington to honor a deputy killed in the line of duty. Instead the money went in his own pocket, federal prosecutors said.

Most of Wright’s crimes happened as he dealt with an addiction to painkillers. In addition to the drugs he took from pill take-back program, Wright also got a blank check from the benevolence fund and used it to pay for oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, writing it out his dealer, according to court records.

Wright also faces more than 60 charges of ethics violations for using his county-issued credit card for personal expenses. In all, there was more than $50,000 in disputed spending, including more than $1,300 he allegedly spent at Apple’s app store and almost $1,600 he paid for Sirius/XM radio, according to court records.

Wright agreed to plead guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation. He is scheduled to appear Thursday morning at the courthouse in Anderson.

The maximum penalty for all three counts combined is nearly 30 years, although Wright will likely receive a much lighter sentence. He also will have to pay at least $440,000 in restitution. A sentencing date has not been set.