Benjamin Day was 20 and studied forensic science at the University of Worcester.
According to the prosecution, he spent hours preparing a room at an Airbnb in Tividale, West Midlands, about 20 miles from his home in Redditch. It cost £40 a night. He stapled plastic to the floor, walls, and over the bed, and brought knives, scissors, a mask, an apron, disposable gloves, duct tape, and cleaning products. A list of those same items was found on his phone.
To lure Maria Saceanu, a 24-year-old Romanian woman, he contacted her through a website using a burner phone. She was stabbed 78 times in that room, many of the wounds inflicted after her death, according to prosecutor Rachel Brand KC. The prosecution also alleges that Day began dismembering the body and cut his hand while doing so.
When he called emergency services, police bodycam footage recorded him saying his injury had been caused by an animal that “might have been a fox”. He was arrested wearing a khaki T-shirt similar to the one worn by the main character in Dexter.
He was expected to claim self-defense and explain the setup as a tribute to the series for a TikTok video. But on October 6, the second day of his trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, he changed his plea and pleaded guilty to murder.
