This is the moment bloodied student Benjamin Day smirked as police arrested him after he stabbed a sex worker to death in a Dexter-inspired “kill room.”
Day, 20, was reportedly obsessed with the US crime drama. He was stopped while walking along the street shortly after the brutal killing of Maria Saceanu, 24, whose photograph has been released for the first time.
Officers treating Day for an injured hand quickly became suspicious when he claimed he had been bitten by a dog.
Later bodycam footage shows the suspect simply nodding as West Midlands Police officers arrest him.
Day was wearing a green khaki long-sleeved shirt, similar to the one worn by Dexter in the television series. He became angry when officers began questioning his account of what had happened.
He claimed a wild dog had bitten him after he cut his hand during what he described as the “gruesome task” of dismembering Ms Saceanu’s body.
Benjamin Day, 20, was arrested in hospital after injuring his hand while cutting up his victim’s body
Day brutally murdered Maria Saceanu, 24, in a Dexter-inspired “kill room” in December last year
He was clutching his mobile phone when officers told him he was under arrest for murder
Earlier, officers had treated his injured hand after he told them he had been bitten by a wild dog
Day flagged down a passing police car after walking “some distance” from the property where he had left Ms Saceanu.
In the footage, one officer asks him: “Where’s the dog? Is it your dog?”
Day replies: “No, it is a wild dog… It just attacked me.”
The officers then ask him to sit down so they can examine his injured hand, which has been wrapped in gaffer tape.
He appears to smirk again when a female officer asks: “Did you wrap that yourself? Where did you get the gaffer tape from?”
Day says he bought the tape and kept it in his car, but claims he cannot remember where the vehicle was parked.
As officers grew increasingly doubtful of his explanation, one asked: “What has gone on? Have you been attacked… because I’ll be honest with you, your story doesn’t quite check out. So where did it actually happen?”
The footage emerged as photographs revealed the interior of the Airbnb where Day allegedly created his “kill room.”
The semi-detached property, located on a residential street in Tividale, West Midlands, remains available to rent. Images show patterned bedspreads in each of its three bedrooms.
The property in Tividale, West Midlands, where Day prepared his Dexter-inspired “kill room”
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Images from a rental listing show colourful patterned bedspreads in each of the three rooms
It has a single, double and ‘deluxe double’ available to rent at £40 a night
The Airbnb home also has a kitchen, dining room and garden. Police were called to the property after another guest saw a trail of blood
Day, a forensic sciences student, admitted killing Ms Saceanu on the second day of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.
He had been expected to claim self-defence, asserting he set up the room at an Airbnb to film a ‘tribute’ to US show Dexter which he could post on TikTok. But after an hour’s delay in court, he returned to the dock and appeared to smirk as he nodded to enter a guilty plea.
He was remanded into custody, with the case adjourned pending psychiatric assessments.
Day, 19 at the time of the killing in December last year, is the son of a company director.
The court was told the University of Worcester student prepared the room as a ‘tribute’ to the US drama, lining it with plastic sheeting.
The show followed forensic technician Dexter Morgan, who leads a secret double life as a vigilante serial killer.
Prosecutors said he was ‘fascinated’ with Dexter and his actions ‘were those of a copycat’.
Ms Saceanu answered a text from him shortly after 9.30pm on December 20 and drove to the Airbnb where Day had been ‘preparing’ since 5.30pm. The prosecution said Day had killed her within a short time of her arrival.
Another guest staying in another room at the Airbnb noticed a trail of blood and told the landlord, who called the police.
Officers found Ms Saceanu in the bedroom lying next to the bed. She had been stabbed 78 times.
The bedroom floor and walls, as well as the bed itself, had been lined with plastic sheeting which had been stapled to the wall. A canvas knife roll containing multiple knives was discovered, as well as a staple gun and duct tape.
Day had also amassed items including an apron, a plastic visor and cleaning materials.
A Home Office pathologist said Ms Saceanu probably died as a result of wounds to her neck. She also had ‘a number of wounds to her hands [which were] consistent with efforts to protect herself’.
Detective Inspector Matt Marston, from the Major Crime Team, who led the investigation, said: ‘Day had an obsessive personality and had become obsessed with the character Dexter. He planned this murder in meticulous detail.
‘It was a pre-planned brutal attack on a defenceless woman lured to the room he had rented.
‘Day had flagged down officers where he offered them a fabricated story about the reason why he had received an injury to his hand. Officers were suspicious and he was quickly detained.
‘The details of this case shocked experienced officers and our thoughts continue to go out to the heartbroken family of Maria at this time.’
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