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Hollywood interest in ‘ice cream killer’ story

The story of a former Vienna ice cream parlour owner who shot, dismembered, and then buried her ex-husband and her lover in the cellar of her shop may become a Hollywood film - according to a report in the Heute newspaper.

Published: 9 December 2014 12:48 CET

Hollywood interest in 'ice cream killer' story

Estibaliz Carranza. Photo: APA

Estibaliz Carranza, a 36-year-old Mexican-Spanish woman dubbed the Ice Lady, recently published her memoir detailing why she killed the men and how she thought she had got away with murder.

The book’s publisher, Bernhard Salomon, confirmed reports that several interested parties – including a producer from Hollywood – have expressed interest in buying the film rights to the memoir.

However Salomon told the Austrian Press Agency that it was not true that a bid of €60,000 had already been placed, or that Oscar winning actress Penelope Cruz was in the running to play Carranza.

"There are very cautious conversations, something likes this takes an insanely long time to negotiate," Salomon said.

Carranza wrote her memoir My Double Life with the help of journalist Martina Prewein. Carranza is reported to have said Cruz would be the ideal actress to play her in a film, as she was also born in Spain and “looks similar”.

Carranza confessed to shooting her victims with a .22 caliber Beretta pistol, chopping up the bodies with a chainsaw, putting them in a freezer at the ice cream parlour, and eventually burying them downstairs in the cellar.

She killed her ex-husband in 2008 and her boyfriend in November 2010.

Sentencing her, the prosecutor said she was "ice-cold" and warned that she could kill again.

The murders were only discovered after workmen stumbled across the remains in the cellar in 2011, and called the police.

Carranza fled to Italy, two months pregnant by another man, but was extradited to Austria and sentenced to life in prison.

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Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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