Police footage of Benjamin Day, who admitted the 'kill room' murder of Maria Sacaenu
In the 5 News Short, the forensic science student tells officers a wild dog bit his hand, and one of them says plainly that the story does not add up.
5 News
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 181,614 views a day, 25 times a normal first day on this channel (7,366).
'Dexter-obsessed' killer smirks as he is stopped by police after murdering woman in ‘kill room’
Benjamin Day, a 20-year-old forensic science student, has admitted murdering 24-year-old Maria Sacaenu at Birmingham Crown Court. He is due to be sentenced on 4 December. The 5 News Short carries footage released by police of the moment he flagged down officers.
According to the video's description, Day lured Ms Sacaenu to a rented room on Brancroft Road in Tividale last December, where he stabbed her 78 times. Police found the bed, floor and walls covered in plastic sheeting stapled in place, along with knives, a staple gun, duct tape, an apron, a visor and cleaning materials. Detective Inspector Matt Marston, who led the investigation, said Day had become obsessed with Dexter, the crime drama in which Michael C. Hall plays a forensic analyst who leads a double life as a killer, and that the murder was planned in detail.
In the footage, Day says a wild dog attacked him. He says the gaffer tape around his hand came from his car, then cannot say where the car is parked. One officer tells him his story does not check out. Police believe the hand injury came from his attempt to dismember Ms Sacaenu's body.
The Short passed 140,000 views in its first 15 hours. A 5 News Short usually ends its whole first day with around 7,000. Comments arrived more than six times faster than usual. Many viewers point out that the character Day fixated on targeted only other killers. Others notice that his clothes resemble the character's, and several credit the officer for not accepting the dog story.
The same day, the channel's report on the man charged with murdering Ann Widdecombe, who now faces terrorism charges that include an alleged attempt on Nigel Farage's home, also started well above a usual 5 News Short.
Published on Trari
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- Channel
- 5 News
- Subscribers
- 201,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 824,066
- Channel views, pace per day
- 62,679 (on a normal day: 156,080)
- Video published
- October 7, 2026
- Video views so far
- 144,199 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 181,614
The numbers
The figures below show how far this Short ran ahead of the channel's usual first day, on a day when the channel as a whole was quieter than normal.
