Benjamin Day, a 19-year-old obsessed with the TV show Dexter, lured sex worker Maria Saceanu to an Airbnb in Tividale, West Midlands, where he stabbed her 78 times and attempted to dismember her. The killing occurred on the evening of December 20, 2025, after Day had spent hours preparing the property as a 'kill room' inspired by the show.
Final hours before the attack
Maria, a 24-year-old Romanian-born woman, had her details found by Day on Vivastreet, a website for UK escorts. He contacted her via a burner phone, and she agreed to meet him at the Airbnb he had rented for £40. Shortly after 9.30pm, Maria drove to the three-bedroom property on Bancroft Road, arriving around 50 minutes later.
Inside, Day had covered the bedroom walls, floor and bed in plastic sheeting, stapled in place. He had also gathered knives, duct tape, cleaning supplies, and other equipment. Maria was killed within a short time of arriving, with a Home Office pathologist stating she died from wounds to her neck that damaged major blood vessels, including the carotid arteries or jugular veins. Injuries to her hands were consistent with attempts to protect herself, and many wounds were inflicted after her death.
Police encounter and discovery
After the killing, Day left the property with his hand wrapped in duct tape and flagged down a police car at around 1.12am, claiming he had been attacked by a wild dog, later suggesting it might have been a fox. Officers grew suspicious when he could not remember where he had parked his car. Meanwhile, another guest at the Airbnb noticed a trail of blood at the bottom of the stairs and alerted the landlord, who contacted police.
At around 2.20am, officers searched the property and found Maria's body next to the bed, with the room still prepared as Day had left it. Detective Inspector Matt Marston, who led the investigation, told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Day had an 'obsessive personality' and had become fixated on Dexter, saying: 'He planned this murder in meticulous detail.'
Copycat behaviour and guilty plea
Prosecutor Rachel Brand KC told jurors Day's actions were those of a copycat. He had changed his university course to applied biology and forensics, mirroring the profession of the show's central character. Two days before the killing, he had written a 'shopping list' on his phone including knives, scissors, a mask, an apron, disposable gloves, plastic sheeting, duct tape, a staple gun, cleaning chemicals, heavy-duty bin bags, microscope slides, and a pipette.
Day had also bought a khaki top similar to one worn by Dexter and was wearing it when police arrested him at Russells Hall Hospital at 3.42am. His defence had been expected to claim he prepared the room as a tribute to Dexter to film for TikTok and acted in self-defence, but on the second day of his trial, he changed his plea to guilty. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on December 4, with further psychiatric assessments ordered.
