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Man Set up Dexter Inspired ‘Kill Room’ to Murder Sex Worker Jury Told

Prosecutors say Benjamin William Day planned the killing in detail, and a pathologist found Maria Saceanu suffered 78 knife wounds.

  • On Monday, the murder trial began for 20-year-old University of Worcester student Benjamin Day, accused of killing 24-year-old Maria Saceanu in an Airbnb last December. Prosecutors allege Day meticulously planned the attack, drawing inspiration from the American crime drama Dexter.
  • Prosecutors outlined how Day, a former journalism student who switched to applied biology and forensics, 'prepared' the crime scene. He allegedly compiled a 'shopping list' on November 18 last year of items including knives and heavy-duty bin bags to create a 'kill room' mimicking Dexter.
  • Forensic evidence revealed Saceanu sustained 78 knife wounds, many inflicted post-mortem. Day allegedly attempted to dismember the body before abandoning the effort due to a hand injury, then discarded a 'burner' phone and called 999 at 12.50am from Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.
  • Day intends to argue self-defense, claiming he staged the room to film "a tribute" to Dexter for TikTok. Prosecutors maintain the evidence points to premeditation, alleging Saceanu was "lured" to the location as part of a detailed plan.
  • The trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court is expected to continue for two weeks. Jurors will examine 'similarities' between the crime scene and Dexter, including the clothing Day wore, the setup of the kill-room, and microscopic slides believed to be a 'trophy'.
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In England, a forensic science student has confessed to murdering a 24-year-old woman after luring her to a 'murder room' in an Airbnb home. Benjamin Day was obsessed with the television series Dexter, says the British prosecutor. Last December, Day, then 19, called a sex worker using a disposable phone. He had rented a room in Tividale near Birmingham, which he had decorated to resemble a room in the American series. Dexter is about a police f…

·Hilversum, Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
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A 24-year-old Romanian woman was killed in an apartment rented by Airbnb in the UK. Benjamin William Day, a student of forensics that prosecutors say was fascinated by the show "Dexter," acknowledged her guilt on the day of the Wolverhampton Crown Court trial.

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dudleynews.co.uk broke the news on Monday, October 5, 2026.
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