By WTVD Staff
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ZEBULON, North Carolina (WTVD) — Johnston County authorities on Wednesday released the 911 call that Wellington Dickens III made on Monday night. In the call, Dickens tells the Telecommunicator that he he killed his four children.
At one point during the call, Dickens says God influenced him to do it. The children are believed to have been killed over a four-month period between May to September, according to Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell.
When deputies went to the home, they discovered several bodies in the trunk of a vehicle inside the garage of the Zebulon home. Dickens also told deputies that his three-year-old son was alive inside the house.
Warning: The transcript of the call below contains details that are graphic and could be disturbing to some readers and listeners.
Operator
“Ok, sir, what’s your name?”
Dickens
“Wellington Dickens.”
Operator
“And a good phone number?”
Dickens
“What, ma’am?”
Operator
“A good telephone number, please?'”
Dickens
*censored*
Operator
“Ok, sir. What’s going on?”
Dickens “I killed my children. It’s a lot to explain, but in a nutshell, it’s all my fault. I’m not even gone. It’s my fault. It’s bad. I didn’t like, hurt them, like on some like, when I say just killed, like, I didn’t like, use knives or nothing to cut nobody or shoot nobody, and then I just started out as me over disciplining, that’s it, and leaving them out to eat… (inaudible). A lot of stuff.”
Operator
“Okay, and sir, how did you do it?”
Dickens “Beat on them. Sometimes they didn’t want to eat. I didn’t force them to eat. I told them that it was a punishment not to eat. I did a bunch of different little things. Thought I was trying to — it’s a lot of things, and I’m trying to just do the right thing. Because…”
“I left something — I tried to call a lawyer earlier, but I could have maybe called a lot more lawyers. I just didn’t want — I should have just started calling all of them and just trying to, like, trying to basically turn — I was basically trying to turn myself in without it being extra. But like I said, y’all want to be want to do extra? That’s why I didn’t know your procedures. And I’m not trying to tell you what not to do.”
Dickens says he “accidentally” caused the first death (6-year-old Leah), who investigators believed was killed in May by hitting her “excessively.”
Operator
“How old were the children?”
Dickens “Well, the oldest is my stepson, he’s 18. The other one is 10…then I have a 9-year-old daughter, and I got a 5-year-old daughter. I have a son here now on my bed. I’m not even gonna try to make it look…” (inaudible)
Operator
“Ok, sir, who is with you now?”
Dickens
“Just me and my son.”
Operator
“Okay, and do you have any weapons on you?”
Dickens “No weapons on me. I do not have knives here, but not on me. Like I said, if you want me to, I’ll come outside in my underwear. I don’t know what ya’ll need me to be — I’m willing to do whatever you need me to do. I never had this in my life…” (inaudible).
Operator
“Have you been drinking or doing any drugs?”
Dickens “I did smoke and I had like a sip of champagne.”
Operator
“You said your name was Wellington, correct?”
Dickens
“Yes, ma’am.”
Operator
“Okay. Now, what made you want to do this?”
Dickens
“It was really not it wasn’t up to me, like I had God just influenced me, like, that’s it. It wasn’t me because I got nervous and I didn’t do it when I was supposed to, and I was being a coward, and I just was letting, trying to let my children — you know what I’m saying? When that was me, I was supposed to make those decisions, and it just spiraled. It just got worse and worse and worse, and I just can’t take it no more. I never did this before. This stuff is crazy… I got my son.”
Operator
“Okay, sir, there’s a deputy outside.”
Dickens
“They outside right now?”
Operator
“Yes, we have a deputy outside…Okay, sir, go speak with the deputy. I’m going to disconnect now.”
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