A 24-year-old woman killed by a man obsessed with the television drama Dexter was “one in a million” and dreamed of becoming a mother, her grieving cousin has said.

Maria Saceanu was lured to an Airbnb that had been prepared as a “kill room” by forensic science student Benjamin Day. He stabbed her before attempting to dismember her body.

Day, 20, had arranged the room as a “tribute” to the US crime drama, covering the bedroom floor, walls and bed with plastic sheeting.

Miss Saceanu’s cousin said the last contact she had from Maria was at about 8pm on the night of the killing. She did not answer the call because she was feeling unwell as a result of her pregnancy.

Maria then “disappeared” at around 10pm and was never heard from again.

Her cousin, who has chosen not to be named, said: “I truly regret that I didn’t answer her last call. I wish she was here to meet my baby. I wish I could turn back time to save her life.”

Day, the son of a company director, admitted murdering Ms Saceanu on the second day of his trial this week.

The court heard that he was fixated on Dexter, the series about forensic technician Dexter Morgan, who secretly lives as a vigilante serial killer.

He contacted Miss Saceanu, who worked as an escort, through a website using a burner phone shortly after 9.30pm on December 20 last year.

She arrived at the three-bedroom Airbnb in Tividale, West Midlands, around 50 minutes later. The property cost £40 a night.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence the pair had sexual contact and that Maria was probably killed very soon after arriving at the property.

As part of his plan, Day placed Miss Saceanu’s belongings in a black bin bag, apparently ready to dispose of them. He was arrested after cutting his hand while trying to dismember her body.

Miss Saceanu’s cousin said she did not want to discuss Maria’s work, but stressed that nobody deserved the fate she suffered.

“Whatever she did for a living, that was her problem. What matters is that a scumbag took her life. Does anyone ask him why he had such thoughts?” she said.

She described Miss Saceanu, whom she regarded as a sister, as someone who “used to put herself second for the good of others”.

“She loved us all, and we all loved her too,” the cousin said.

‘I personally didn’t want to accept her death, I didn’t go to her funeral and I don’t think I have the power to go visit her grave, I still refuse to believe this is all true.’

Miss Saceanu was born in Alexandria in Teleorman, one of the poorest counties of Romania. She lived in London before moving to Tividale. 

Her cousin told how Miss Saceanu, who was an only child, lost her mother in 2023. She said they were extremely close and she ‘never fully recovered’ but she dreamed of becoming a mother herself. 

RELATED: Fort Lauderdale Witnesses Unruly Celebrations on St. Patrick's Day as Spring Breakers End Up on Stretchers Following Miami's Strict Measures – NewsFinale

‘She wanted to live, to have a family, to become a mother, she was a one in a million girl,’ she said. 

‘When I say this, I say it with all my heart, she used to put herself second for the good of others.’  

Speaking about her killer she said: ‘All I want is for that despicable person to live 102 years and for him to suffer every year of his life, may he be haunted by regret, may he end up begging her for forgiveness, driven mad by regret.’

She said she did not think he would survive long in prison however. 

Day was arrested after he injured his hand trying to cut up her body. 

The court heard he was forced to abandon the ‘gruesome task’ due to the injury and walked some distance from the property, disposing of his burner phone and flagging down a passing police car, telling officers he had been injured by a dog. 

At 1.05am Day sent a text to the landlord of the Airbnb, asking if he could extend his stay to a week but a guest staying in another room noticed a trail of blood and told the landlord, who called the police.

Officers found Miss Saceanu in the bedroom lying next to the bed. She had been stabbed 78 times.

Day, who was 19 at the time and still living with his parents, tried to claim self-defence, asserting that he set up the room to film a ‘tribute’ to Dexter which he could post on TikTok. 

He callously said Miss Saceanu attacked him when she saw the room and he was injured trying to disarm her and stabbed her one or two times while trying to defend himself. 

A Home Office pathologist said Miss 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’.

Day was arrested on suspicion of murder at 3.42am as he lay on a bed in hospital. 

He will be sentenced in December. 

Jonathan Roe from the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Benjamin William Day’s guilty verdict brings to an end a trial in which he tried to blame Maria Saceanu for her own death by alleging she attacked him first. 

‘The evidence presented by the prosecution exposed those claims for the lies they were, and he has rightly been forced to accept responsibility for her murder.

‘Forensic evidence and pathology were central to this case, and the entire prosecution team was determined to secure justice for Maria. 

‘By presenting that evidence clearly, the defendant was left with no choice but to accept responsibility for his actions. Maria’s family have been spared the trauma of a prolonged trial process as a result of today’s guilty verdict.

He added: ‘My thoughts remain with all those who loved and knew Maria. Her life was cut short to feed Day’s warped fantasy, and nothing can undo that loss. The CPS remain determined to secure justice for her and for everyone who loved her.’

A coroner has heard that child safety officials were warned a diabetic girl faced an extreme risk of death if she was returned to her science-denying, religious extremist mother—two years before the child’s preventable death.

Eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died at the family home near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, as her parents, her brother and 11 other members of the ‘Saints’ church group gathered around her to pray.

Her father, Jason Richard Struhs, had stopped giving her insulin injections several days earlier.

An inquest began on Monday to examine whether child safety, health and other government agencies responded adequately and appropriately in the period before Elizabeth died on January 7, 2022.

A paediatrician told the inquest that Elizabeth was ‘minutes from death’ when she was airlifted to Brisbane Children’s Hospital in July 2019, after her mother, Kerrie Struhs, refused to obtain medical treatment for her seriously ill six-year-old daughter.

Elizabeth was later diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

The paediatrician, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Queensland’s child protection authority had effectively stonewalled her concerns that Elizabeth faced an ‘extreme risk of harm including death’ if she was returned to a mother who rejected medical science.

‘Elizabeth was in a comatose state and very near to death,’ the paediatrician told the inquest.

The endocrinologist treating Elizabeth had told Child Safety that her mother believed the girl’s diabetes would be cured and that she would not need insulin to remain alive, the coroner heard.

‘It is a life-threatening condition … if the mother continues to deny treatment, she cannot be in Kerrie’s care,’ the endocrinologist said.

The inquest heard that Kerrie had belonged to ‘the Saints’ for years and had previously refused to seek medical or dental care for Elizabeth.

Although Child Safety had not received the endocrinologist’s written report, the paediatrician said officials knew its contents when they decided to return Elizabeth to her home.

According to the paediatrician, officials remained focused on the assumption that Elizabeth would also be cared for by her father, who had not yet joined the group at that time.

The two medical specialists considered Jason Richard Struhs ‘weak’ when faced with pressure from members of the Saints, the paediatrician testified.

The safety plan created by Child Safety depended on the then-six-year-old Elizabeth recognising when she was unwell and telling someone, the inquest was told.

‘It’s not developmentally appropriate’, the paediatrician said.

MORE STORY: Who Was Leke Alder's First Wife? Exploring His Love Life and Children – NewsFinale

Jason Struhs agreed to a diabetes treatment plan but by January 2022 had been convinced by his wife and the Saints to stop Elizabeth’s insulin.

Elizabeth rapidly became unwell, was unable to speak and fell into unconsciousness.

She died on a mattress on her living room floor after her parents and 12 other Saints members gathered around her to pray and sing.

The coroner also heard of an earlier opportunity for officials to intervene, after older sister Jayde Struhs triggered the Struhs family’s first contact with child protection services in 2013.

Jayde told her school nurse her parents had become involved in an extreme religion based on the Bible, counsel assisting Simon Hamlyn-Harris said.

A Child Safety manager giving evidence on Monday agreed the then-teenager was concerned for herself and her siblings ‘about the controlling nature of the religion (and) concerns about things she was required to believe’.

Jayde was at a point where she ‘wanted to get out’, Mr Hamlyn-Harris said.

But the manager said no harm was identified.

The system had since changed, and staff now relied more on professional judgement than prescriptive guidelines, the coroner heard.

Jayde fled the family home a year later but remained in contact with her younger sister.

Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard on Monday acknowledged the loss for Jayde and her family was made worse by public scrutiny, including through the inquest.

Elizabeth’s parents are serving 14-year jail terms after they, along with Saints leader Brendan Stevens and 11 others, were found guilty of manslaughter in 2025.

The inquest is due to run for two weeks.

– READ MORE: Family and church guilty of manslaughter of Elizabeth Struhs 

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly gone into hiding as Houthi rebels intensify missile attacks on Riyadh.

The latest strike hit the capital’s international airport on Sunday, killing one person and leaving 11 others injured.

It came just a day after the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in a decade, when a projectile struck King Khalid International Airport, killing 13 people and injuring hundreds.

The sharp escalation in the conflict between the Saudi-led coalition government and Iran-backed Houthi fighters prompted Donald Trump to warn that the United States could intervene.

On Sunday, Trump said he “may” join a counterattack after Saudi Arabia vowed to retaliate against the rebels.

As Houthi missile strikes on Riyadh grow more frequent, the crown prince has reportedly been forced to seek shelter in secure locations.

Mohammed bin Salman, 41, has allegedly spent the past six days moving between heavily guarded palaces equipped with bunkers, officials said.

He was last seen in public on Tuesday, when he donated blood as part of a national campaign encouraging donations.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the 41-year-old crown prince was “shuttling between heavily guarded palaces equipped with bunkers” and protected by a handpicked security team, according to officials familiar with his movements.

Schools throughout the capital have also been closed, with lessons moved online as the Houthi attacks continue.

The developments came after President Trump suggested that Washington could take action against the Houthi rebels as he continues to wage war on Iran.

Last month, Trump described the crown prince as a “good friend.”

Asked about the growing momentum of Houthi fighters in Yemen, he said: “Everything is gonna work out fine and dandy. It’s gonna be very good.”

When reporters later asked whether the United States would become involved in the conflict, the president replied that he was “going to look at it.”

Sunday’s Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia triggered international condemnation, with the UK and European Union denouncing the strikes and reaffirming their support for the kingdom.

British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting called the Houthi missile strikes “contemptible” and warned that they represented a “dangerous escalation” of the conflict.

He told Sky News: ‘What we’ve seen overnight is a dangerous escalation and I’m afraid an increasing pattern of behaviour from the Houthis that’s targeting civilian sites in Saudi Arabia.

‘This is completely contemptible action and it’s one of the reasons why the UK is providing support to Saudi Arabia in the form of air defences, but also air-to-air refuelling.

‘We want to see an end to this conflict. It cannot be right that the Houthis are attacking civilian targets in this way.’

Meanwhile EU chief Ursula von der Leyen joined the chorus of condemnation as she too labelled the attacks a ‘dangerous escalation’ while calling on the Houthis to halt strikes on civilian targets.

She said: ‘These attacks by Iran’s proxies are pushing the region into a spiral of violence.

EXPLORE MORE: Dolly Parton’s Nephew Is ‘Making Things Worse’ in Lawsuit

‘They are destabilising crucial global transport and energy nodes with shockwaves sent through the world. These murderous attacks at civilians must stop at once.’

She added that the EU stands in ‘solidarity with Saudi Arabia’. 

The Houthis last night claimed responsibility for the attacks on King Khalid International Airport yesterday, which killed one person and injured 11 others. 

The group said it had targeted the location several times as well as Saudi energy facilities, a day after Saturday’s deadly attack.

Military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Iran-backed group ‘carried out four qualitative operations in the past 24 hours using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones’.

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority condemned the ‘heinous attack’ – saying it resulted in ‘material damage’.

The authority said: ‘The attack resulted in the death of a Pakistani resident – may God have mercy on him – and the injury of 11 others.’

It came just hours after the rebel group warned that Saudi airports are ‘potential targets and sites for operations by our forces’.

Mr Saree urged ‘everyone to take our warnings seriously,’ adding that Saudi Arabia ‘bears responsibility’ for failing to intercept its missiles. 

On Saturday, 13 people were killed in a missile strike on the Riyadh airport while more than 300 were left injured. 

Four Saudi citizens were among the dead, including a captain with the national airline as well as two Bangladeshis, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian, one Sudanese and one Indian.

The strike hit a passenger terminal at King Khalid on Saturday.

It was the deadliest on the kingdom in over a decade, when an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers in a Shia mosque in the eastern Qatif governorate.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Saturday’s incident and shared that one unidentified American died.

He said: ‘The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorists Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen.’ 

Mr Rubio continued: ‘These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now. 

‘We stand with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people and extend our condolences to the victims and their families.’

Saudi coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki described the strike as a ‘cowardly terrorist attack’ against a civilian facility. 

The civil war in Yemen flared back to life in July after a four-year, UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle East war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that has supported Yemen’s government militarily since 2015 and is now being drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour’s conflict.

Mr Trump has said he will speak with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, calling what happened in Saudi Arabia ‘not acceptable’.

He told reporters: ‘It’s not good… I’m not happy.’

US media outlets have reported that previous Saudi requests for US military assistance in dealing with the Houthis have been rebuffed.

If Mr Trump does decide to get involved, it would likely escalate the ongoing war between the US and Iran.