A 20-year-old forensics student who was obsessed with the US TV drama Dexter has pleaded guilty to the murder of a 24-year-old sex worker he lured to a plastic-lined 'kill room' set up inside an Airbnb property.
Benjamin William Day, an undergraduate at the University of Worcester, was arrested wearing a Dexter-style khaki top after stabbing Maria Saceanu 78 times and dismembering her body. The court heard that Day spent hours preparing the kill room at the rented premises in the Tividale area of the West Midlands, near his home in Redditch, Worcestershire.
Change of plea at trial
It was expected that Day would claim self-defence, stating that he set up the room to film a "tribute" to Dexter, which he could post on TikTok. But he changed his plea to guilty after discussion with his barrister on the second day of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The killer's change of plea came around three hours after jurors were shown footage of Day claiming to have been attacked by a "wild dog" or fox. The court was shown footage of police officers helping him with a hand injury, which was wrapped in duct tape.
Arrest at hospital
He then left the house, where he had rented a room for £40, at about 12.30am on December 21, walked some distance away and then called 999 at 12.50am asking for medical assistance. The footage also showed Day sitting in a police car at around 1.12am and bleeding onto the pavement.
The 20-year-old told police he had been injured near a bush by an animal that "might have been a fox". When questioned where he got the tape from he said it was in his Fiat 500, but could not remember where he parked it. It was at the hospital that Day was arrested on suspicion of killing Ms Saceanu, who was originally from Romania but lived near the Airbnb property.
Evidence and sentencing
Prosecutor Rachel Brand KC said: "He lured Maria Saceanu to a room that he had rented via Airbnb. He had prepared himself to kill her. He had planned to dispose of her body without leaving signs of what had happened, and he planned to get away with it. But it all went wrong and he was caught."
A resident who booked a different room in the Airbnb contacted the landlord when they spotted a trail of blood. Police then found the body of Ms Saceanu, who had been reported missing by her partner's friend. Day was arrested on suspicion of murder at 3.42am as he lay on a bed in hospital, the court heard. As part of his plan, Day had placed his victim's possessions into a black bin bag, ready for disposal.
Outlining evidence against Day, Ms Brand told the court that on November 18 last year, he had made a "shopping list" on his phone of things that were required for the killing, including knives, scissors, a mask, an apron, disposable gloves, plastic sheeting, duct tape, a staple gun, a T-shirt, trousers, cleaning chemicals, microscope slides, a pipette, and "hefties" – a word used by Americans to describe heavy-duty black bin bags. All the items on the list were found at the scene, she added. Day is due to be sentenced on December 4.
