North Carolina man accused of killing 4 children transferred to Central Prison

Lexi Solomon, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Nov 4, 2025

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RALEIGH, N.C. — A Johnston County man accused of killing four of his children has been transferred to Central Prison for his safety, The News & Observer learned Tuesday.

Wellington Delano Dickens III, 39, is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of 6-year-old Leah Dickens, 9-year-old Zoe Dickens, 10-year-old Wellington Dickens IV and 18-year-old Sean Brasfield, Dickens’ stepson.

The victims are believed to have been killed between May and September, according to Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. Their deaths weren’t discovered until Oct. 27, when Dickens called 911 and told dispatchers he’d killed the children and hidden their bodies in his car in the garage. His 3-year-old son was found unharmed in the family’s Zebulon home.

The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office requested Dickens be moved from the Johnston County Detention Center because he “needs to be protected from other inmates, and the county jail facility cannot provide such protection,” according to court documents.

District Court Judge Thomas H. Lock approved Dickens’ transfer Monday. State records show Dickens was taken into the custody of the Department of Adult Correction, which runs state prisons, Monday night.

District Attorney Jason Waller and the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment Tuesday on why Dickens was transferred.

Dickens will be held at Central Prison until further notice, according to court documents.

Death penalty hearing

Waller also filed a motion Tuesday for a Rule 24 hearing, a type of hearing where prosecutors indicate if they plan to pursue the death penalty in a case. Waller would not comment Tuesday if he plans to seek the death penalty in Dickens’s case.

“(A)ll I can say is his first date in superior court will be Thursday, December 4, 2025, and any representations made regarding the Rule 24 hearing will be addressed in open court,” he wrote in an email.

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