N.C. Man Allegedly Called 911 with Haunting Admission. Police Found 4 Children in the Back of His Trunk By KC Baker

A North Carolina man called 911 saying that he had killed his children — and when police arrived, they found four of their badly decomposed bodies in the trunk of his car, authorities said.

The bodies of three of Wellington Delano Dickens III’s biological children, ages 6, 9 and 10, and his 18-year-old stepchild, had been inside the trunk of the car “for a long period of time,” the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

Dickens’ 3-year-old son was found unharmed inside the home in Zebulon.

The gruesome crime came to light on Monday, October 27, when Dickens called 911 “and relayed to the call taker he had killed his children,” the sheriff’s office alleged.

Deputies responded to the address and allegedly found “multiple bodies in the trunk of a vehicle in the garage,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Authorities did not disclose the cause of death.

According to warrants filed in the case and reviewed by PEOPLE, the murders took place on May 1.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE‘s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Dickens’s wife, Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens, died in April 2024, according to court filings for her estate.

According to her obituary, Stephanie, 37, “passed away suddenly at her home on Sunday, April 21, 2024.” The obituary said they had married in August of 2015, and she was survived by Dickens and her five children.

“Due to the apparent time since death, positive identification of the decedents will be confirmed with the assistance of the State Medical Examiner’s Office,” the sheriff’s office said.

Dickens is charged with four counts of murder. He is being held without bond at the Johnston County Jail.

He made his first appearance at the Johnston County Courthouse on Tuesday, according to court records. He is due back in court on Nov. 13.

He is represented by a public defender, who was not named in the court records.

The public defender’s office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.