A North Carolina man called 911 on Monday night and confessed that he had killed four of his children, whose decomposing remains sheriff’s deputies later discovered in the trunk of a vehicle in his garage, the authorities said.
The man, Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, of Zebulon, N.C., is believed to have killed three of his biological children — ages 6, 9 and 10 — and his 18-year-old stepchild, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Tuesday.
Mr. Dickens’s 3-year-old son was found unharmed inside his house when investigators responded to his home, which is about 22 miles east of Raleigh, N.C., the capital, the sheriff said.
He was charged with one count of murder in the death of one of his children, according to the authorities, who said they expected to file additional charges against him.
That child was believed to have been killed on May 1, according to an arrest warrant.
Mr. Dickens, who was being held without bond at the Johnston County Jail, made an initial appearance at the Johnston County Courthouse on Tuesday, court records showed. A public defender, who was not named, was appointed to represent him.
The public defender in Johnston County did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Around 10:09 p.m., Mr. Dickens called 911 and admitted to the killings, according to the sheriff’s office, which said that the victims’ remains had appeared to have been in the trunk for a long time.
Investigators said that they were still trying to identify the victims with help from North Carolina’s chief medical examiner. A cause of death was not immediately clear.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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