A forensics student has pleaded guilty to stabbing a woman to death in a ‘kill room’ inspired by US TV drama Dexter.
Benjamin Day, 20, changed his plea part way through his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court and admitted murdering Maria Saceanu, 24.
Day had been expected to claim self-defence, asserting that he set up the room to film a ‘tribute’ to Dexter which he could post on TikTok.
But after an hour-long delay on Tuesday, Day returned from the cells to the dock and appeared to smirk as he nodded towards the court clerk and entered a guilty plea.
Day, wearing a dark suit and a maroon patterned tie, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on December 4.
He was arrested in December in a Dexter-style khaki top after stabbing Ms Saceanu 78 times and beginning to dismember her body.
The court heard the University of Worcester undergraduate prepared the room in Tividale, West Midlands, as a ‘tribute’ to the US drama.
The show, which ran from 2006 until 2013, followed Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall) a forensic technician who leads a secret double life as a vigilante serial killer.
Jurors were told that Ms Saceanu was a sex worker who he had contacted through a website using a burner phone.
Benjamin Day, 20, admitted murdering Maria Saceanu, 24
The ‘copycat’ killer mimicked a ‘kill room’ from the US crime series Dexter (pictured)
Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor Rachel Brand KC said that after luring Ms Saceanu to the Airbnb and killing her he set about disposing of her body.
Day was arrested after injuring his hand and calling 999 for help. It was alleged he cut his hand as he began the ‘gruesome task’ of dismembering Ms Saceanu’s body.
The prosecution said Day had ‘planned this murder in some detail’ and ‘planned to dispose of her body without leaving signs of what had happened’. But Ms Brand told the court: ‘It all went wrong and he was caught.’
She said Day had become ‘fascinated’ with Dexter and his actions ‘were those of a copycat, imitating the things he had seen in that programme’.
Listing what she said were ‘similarities’ between the death and the TV series, Ms Brand told jurors: ‘Dexter Morgan works as a forensic scientist in a police department – and the broad premise of the programme is that he is a serial killer who knows how to cover his tracks. The defendant changed his university course from journalism to applied biology and forensics.
‘Dexter wears a khaki T-shirt. The defendant had purchased just such a T-shirt and was wearing it when he was arrested – as you will see. He had changed into Dexter clothing before Maria Saceanu arrived at the house.
‘In the TV series, Dexter prepares a “kill room” when carrying out his attacks, lined with plastic sheeting which he fixes using a staple gun or duct/gaffer tape.’
Ms Brand said Day had been planning the killing since November 18 last year when he made a ‘shopping list’ on his phone of items required. These included knives, scissors, a mask, an apron, disposable gloves, plastic sheeting, duct tape, a staple gun, a T-shirt, trousers, cleaning chemicals, a pipette, microscope slides (which the court heard were a ‘trophy’ from the killing) and ‘hefties’ – an American word for heavy duty black bin bags.
All the items on the list were found at the scene more than a month later, the court heard.
There was no evidence of sexual contact between Day and Ms Saceanu but she answered a text message from him shortly after 9.30pm on December 20 last year.
She drove to the Airbnb where Day had been ‘preparing’ since 5.30pm, arriving around 10.20pm.
The prosecution said Day killed Ms Saceanu within a short time of her arrival, before trying to dismember the body and injuring himself.
He then walked some distance away and ditched a ‘burner’ phone before calling 999 at 12.50am.
He told police his hand had been cut by a fox or dog and was taken to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley before messaging the Airbnb landlord to ask if he could extend his stay there to a week.
However, a guest staying in another room at the Airbnb noticed a trail of blood and told the landlord, who called police.
Officers found Ms Saceanu inside and Day was arrested at 3.42am in hospital A Home Office pathologist said Ms Saceanu probably died as a result of wounds to her neck.
They added that ‘a number of wounds to her hands [were] consistent with efforts to protect herself’.
On Tuesday, before he changed his plea, jurors were shown bodyworn footage of him claiming to have been attacked by a ‘wild dog’ or fox.
In the video, police officers can be seen helping Day with a hand injury, which was wrapped in duct tape.
During his conversations with police, Day said he had been going to drink in Dudley and came over to look for a ‘random girl’ in a bar.
Asked by an officer if he had been set up and attacked, Day said he had been injured near a bush by an animal that ‘might have been a fox’.
During the video recordings from two officers’ cameras, Day said of the animal: ‘It was like a kind of brown orangey colour.
‘I was by a bush and it jumped out at me.’
Questioned as to where he had got duct tape to wrap around his hand, Day told police it was in his car, although he could not remember where it was parked.
Officers offered Day a blanket and told him to keep his hand raised, while a male officer told him that his story did not quite check out.
Day answered: ‘I don’t know if it was a wild dog or a fox.’
He was arrested on suspicion of murder at 3.42am, the court heard, as he lay on a bed in hospital.
As part of his plan Day had placed the victim’s possessions into a black bin bag, ready for disposal.
In a statement read to jurors on Tuesday, the renter who had booked a different room at the Airbnb said: ‘The blood was in drips and I thought that someone must have hurt themselves.
‘I didn’t go into the room – I just looked from outside.
‘I could see a white plastic sheet placed on the wall on the right.
‘I then pushed the door open but stayed outside, I could see lot of blood on the floor and a doll.
‘The doll was lying on the floor on its back.’
The renter added that he took pictures which he sent to the police, left the property, and warned the landlord to be careful and to enter the premises accompanied by the police.
