Dad Says He Couldn’t See His Son for 10 Years. Then Boy Was Found Dead in Trunk, with 3 Other Kids

The father of a North Carolina teenager who was allegedly killed alongside his three half-siblings by their stepfather is sharing his heartbreak.

“I never would have thought this would happen,” the father of 18-year-old Sean Brasfield told WTVD, asking that his name not be used. “I know there are a lot of eyes on Sean, but there are three other innocent children who died.”

Speaking separately to The News & Observer, he said he was “in total shock.”
His son, he explained, had cerebral palsy and was blind in one eye. “He was a great kid,” the father said, according to the outlet.

Authorities discovered Sean and his three half-siblings inside the trunk of a car on Monday, Oct. 27, after receiving a 911 call — allegedly from Sean’s stepfather, Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38.

According to a press release from the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, Dickens allegedly told the call taker that he had killed his children.

Sheriff Steve Bizzell said Dickens’ 6-year-old child was allegedly killed in May, his 9-year-old in August, and his 10-year-old in either August or September. Sean was allegedly killed in September, the sheriff added, per The News & Observer.

A 3-year-old boy was found alive at the family’s Zebulon home, the outlet reported.

Court filings for her estate show that Sean’s mother, Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens, died in April 2024. According to her obituary, she and Dickens married in August 2015.

Sean’s father said he and other relatives were cut off from contacting Sean after Stephanie and Dickens began dating. He last saw his son around 2014, he told WTVD.

Dickens has been charged with four counts of murder and is being held without bond at the Johnston County Jail. His attorney could not be reached for comment.