A forensics student has pleaded guilty to murdering a woman in an Airbnb room he had prepared in imitation of the television drama Dexter.
Benjamin Day, 20, admitted killing Maria Saceanu, 24, after previously denying the charge at Wolverhampton Crown Court. He changed his plea part-way through his trial on Tuesday.
Day had been expected to claim self-defence, arguing that he had set up the room to film a tribute to the US series for TikTok. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on December 4.
The University of Worcester undergraduate was accused of luring Ms Saceanu to the property in Tividale, in the West Midlands, after contacting her through a website using a burner phone.
Prosecutor Rachel Brand KC told jurors that Day had planned the killing in detail and had been preparing the room from around 5.30pm on December 20. Ms Saceanu arrived shortly after 10.20pm, having responded to a message from him.
The prosecution said she was killed soon after arriving. Day then began trying to dismember her body, injuring his hand in the process.
He left the property, abandoned a burner phone and called 999 at 12.50am, claiming that his hand had been injured by a fox or a dog. He was taken to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, where he was arrested on suspicion of murder at 3.42am.
Police had been called after another guest at the Airbnb noticed a trail of blood and alerted the landlord. Officers found Ms Saceanu inside the property.
A Home Office pathologist said she probably died from wounds to her neck. A number of injuries to her hands were consistent with attempts to protect herself, the court heard.
Ms Brand said Day had become fascinated by Dexter, which follows forensic technician Dexter Morgan as he leads a secret life as a vigilante serial killer.
She told the court that Day had changed his university course from journalism to applied biology and forensics. He had also bought a khaki T-shirt similar to clothing worn by the television character and was wearing it when he was arrested.
The prosecution said Day had made a list on his phone of items needed for the plan, including knives, scissors, a mask, an apron, disposable gloves, plastic sheeting, duct tape, a staple gun and cleaning chemicals. The items were found at the property more than a month later, jurors were told.
Microscope slides were also found and were described in court as a trophy from the killing. Ms Brand said Day had placed Ms Saceanu’s possessions in a black bin bag ready for disposal.
Body-worn camera footage shown to jurors recorded Day telling officers that an animal had attacked him near a bush. He said: “It was like a kind of brown orangey colour. I was by a bush and it jumped out at me.”
When questioned about the account, he said: “I don’t know if it was a wild dog or a fox.” Officers had noticed that his explanation did not quite check out.
A renter staying in another room told the court that blood had been dripping outside the room. Looking inside without entering, he saw blood on the floor, a white plastic sheet on the wall and a doll lying on its back.
Day, who wore a dark suit and maroon patterned tie when he entered his guilty plea, appeared to smirk as he nodded towards the court clerk. His mother, speaking outside the family’s home in Redditch, said: “It’s fine. It is what it is. It is what it is.”
