A forensic science student has admitted stabbing a woman to death in a makeshift “kill room” modelled on the US television series Dexter.
Benjamin Day, 20, changed his plea during his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, pleading guilty to the murder of 24-year-old Maria Saceanu.
Day had been expected to argue that he acted in self-defence. His case was that he had prepared the room to record a “tribute” to Dexter for TikTok.
Following an hour-long delay on Tuesday, Day was brought back from the cells to the dock. He appeared to smirk as he nodded towards the court clerk before entering his guilty plea.
Wearing a dark suit and maroon patterned tie, Day was remanded in custody. He is due to be sentenced on December 4.
Day is the son of a company director. At the family’s executive home in Redditch, a woman believed to be his mother responded to the guilty plea by saying: “It’s fine. It is what it is. It is what it is.”
She declined to make any further comment.
Day attended Trinity High School in Redditch. A local source described him as “a bit of a loner” but recalled that he had been a fan of Dexter and would speak about the show.
He was arrested in December while wearing a khaki top similar to clothing associated with Dexter, after stabbing Ms Saceanu 78 times and beginning to dismember her body.
The court heard that Day, an undergraduate at the University of Worcester, had prepared the room in Tividale, in the West Midlands, as a tribute to the American crime drama.
The series, which aired from 2006 to 2013, centred on Dexter Morgan, played by Michael C. Hall. The character is a forensic technician who secretly lives as a vigilante serial killer.
Jurors were told that Ms Saceanu was a sex worker whom Day contacted through a website using a burner phone.
Benjamin Day, 20, admitted murdering Maria Saceanu, 24
The “copycat” killer recreated a “kill room” inspired by the US crime series Dexter (pictured)
Opening the prosecution case on Monday, Rachel Brand KC said Day lured Ms Saceanu to the Airbnb before killing her and attempting to dispose of her body.
Day was arrested after injuring his hand and calling 999 for assistance. Prosecutors alleged that he cut himself while beginning what they described as the “gruesome task” of dismembering Ms Saceanu’s body.
The prosecution said Day had “planned this murder in some detail” and intended to dispose of the body without leaving evidence of what had happened. But Ms Brand told the court that “it all went wrong and he was caught”.
She said Day had become “fascinated” by Dexter, adding that his actions were those of a copycat imitating events he had seen in the programme.
Detailing what she called the “similarities” between the killing and the television 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.
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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.