Some women have biological clocks.
Estibaliz Carranza had a never-ending, shrieking alarm.
Unfortunately, Carranza’s baby lust led to another, more sinister passion: murder.
Born in Mexico in 1978, Carranza was a highly intelligent honour student whose mother urged her to further her education and get a career before having children of her own. Moving to Spain, and then Germany, Carranza settled in Vienna, Austria, opening an ice-cream parlour and searching for the man of her dreams.
Carranza had no problem attracting men–the wrong men. The one she married, Holger Holz, was a devout Hare Krishna, a religion that counsels its members to turn away from base desires. Soon he was spending most of his time at the temple, and no matter what Carranza did–making candlelit dinners, wearing stilettos and sexy outfits–her husband just wasn’t interested.
Still intent on having a child, Carranza started an affair with ice-cream machinery salesman Manfred Hinterberger. She divorced Holz, but due to financial constraints, the increasingly acrimonious pair had to continue living together. When Hinterberger jilted Carranza in 2008, leaving her for another woman, her ex had a front-row seat to her humiliation. Taunting her about her lover’s betrayal and saying she would end up childless and alone, Holz had no idea how close his ex-wife was to snapping. As he continued to play video games, still laughing at her, Carranza retrieved his .22, walked up behind him, and shot him twice in the back of the head. She shot him once more at point-blank range, just to make sure the divorce was really final.
While it must have been a relief to at last be rid of her troublesome roommate, Carranza now had another problem: what to do with the body. Fire only singed Holz, causing a terrible stink that Carranza explained away to her inquiring neighbours as “cooking fish.” One wonders what kind of fish the neighbours thought it was.
Undaunted, Carranza purchased a chainsaw and proceeded to dismember her ex-husband’s body, concealing his remains in empty ice-cream containers, which she then filled with concrete and stashed in the cellar of her shop.
Holz’s disappearance went undetected, and Carranza continued selling ice cream and searching for the man of her dreams. Sadly, another nightmare strolled into her life instead–Hinterberger. He begged Carranza to take him back, promising he was ready to start a family. For some reason, she believed him.
Due to his previous infidelity, Carranza had difficulty trusting him, and in 2010, a heated argument erupted when she accused him of having an affair. Hinterberger refused to discuss it, and promptly fell asleep, turning his back on her and snoring loudly. For Carranza, that was quite enough. Out came the gun, followed by the chainsaw. Hinterberger was dispatched in more ice-cream buckets, which joined the ones containing Holz in her shop’s cellar.
Who knows how many men would have ended up in ice-cream pails if it hadn’t been for some maintenance men who worked in the cellar in June 20ll. Drawn by a terrible smell, one of the workers was driven to open a pail and crack the concrete, discovering the rotting remains of a human leg.
By then, Carranza was on the run. She was arrested in Italy a few days later in the arms of yet another man, a street musician who should probably consider himself very lucky.
In an ironic touch, after her arrest authorities discovered she was pregnant–by a fourth man she’d started dating after Hinterberger’s “disappearance.” She had her son while in prison, and Carranza’s parents are raising the child in Spain. Prison also didn’t stop Carranza from marrying her son’s father. If it weren’t for the bars between them, you could almost say she got her happily ever after.
The ice-cream lady is considered so dangerous that she was moved to an all-men’s prison in Austria. Given her history of fatal seduction, is this the smartest decision?
One thing I’ll never understand is why Carranza didn’t get rid of the bodies, especially when she knew maintenance workers would be spending time in her cellar. For a highly intelligent woman, this was a dumb move.
Had you heard of Estibaliz Carranza? Do you think it’s right to keep her in a man’s prison?
For more chilling tales of female killers, try Murder becomes her, The shopaholic serial killer, or The startling true story of Mexico’s Old Lady Killer.
Photo of Carranza courtesy of Getty Images.
She is nice looking
She was nuts all right. At least no one was served what was inside those ice cream pails.
Apparently she really struggled with the dismemberment and had to take several breaks, so hopefully that means serving her exes as dessert was beyond her. Ice cream would have never been the same.
Horrifying. Maybe she didn’t care if she got caught. No. What is she doing in a men’s prison? Her targets.
Exactly, Mary. Such a bizarre story.
It does amaze me how some of these sociopaths also have no ability to think in the long-term.
In Carranza’s case, several men are probably still alive due to her shortsightedness.
Putting her in a man’s prison sounds like putting an alcoholic in a brewery to be honest
Debbie
I agree! Seems like an odd choice.
I was thinking the same thing as Alex about her at least not serving what was in those ice cream pails…. 😮
Until they come up with a meat-flavoured ice cream (bacon?), that would be a difficult feat to pull off.
Hmmmm … I’ll have a Rum and Raisin please! 🙂
Too late. Carranza’s ice-cream serving days are over, I’m afraid. 🙂
This started as a great setup for a sitcom. An ice-cream lady, wants to start a family, marries a Hare Krishna, gets divorced but has to keep living with him anyway, then starts a relationship with another guy… it practically writes itself.
It’s got a pretty gruesome and shocking climax for the season 1 finale, but honestly I would keep that in. Excuse me while I go write a treatment and try to sell this to Netflix…
You just might have something there, CD. Go for it!
Another gruesome tale! But I felt a twinge of sympathy for her. She obviously needed help and never found any–not from her mother, her husband or her lover.
So true, Lee.
It’s horrible to admit, but during the reenactment show I watched, when her ex-husband insults her and then turns back to his video game, still mocking her, it was actually a little funny when she shot him in the back of the head. Same with the snoring, drunken lover. It’s like she did the things a lot of women have fantasized about but would never actually do. 😉
I counted several health code violations.
This made me (literally) LOL.
I would be watching her kid closely because of the genes but also being raised by the same parents who raised her. Now, don’t get me wrong, many parents of serial nut killers are very good but i would still watch. WTF??? The one guy still married her? he needs to get checked out too. Who cares what prison she is ion as long as it is high security and she is never allowed to leave. As for the ice cream, I wonder what people thought if they got ice cream and found something hard they bit on…maybe it was a nut, but then again….
Hopefully her son turns out to be okay. Often when violence is carried down through the generations, it’s the result of nurture, not nature. But in Carranza’s case, nothing I read suggested she was abused or ill-treated as a child, though. Mental illness, personality disorders, and a singleminded obsession with motherhood appear to be the culprits here.
Maybe I’ve read too many horror stories but I was really concerned about the direction this story was taking, but thankfully she at least didn’t serve those she murdered in the ice cream she sold. O_o Oi vey. That’s about the only positive I can think of. I had never heard this before!
I’ve heard of people masking human remains in sausage or barbecue, etc., but never ice cream. That would definitely be a feat–thank goodness she didn’t attempt it.
I’ve never heard of Carranza. I’m not good at reading the news. Good point about leaving those pails in her cellar, especially since they were heavy enough with the concrete to sink them to the bottom of a river. Why did she not get rid of them? And why did the father of her son agree to marry a murderer? I have no problem with her being in an all-men prison. It would make a great TV series.
That’s a good point, Liesbet. I can totally see a reality show based on her experiences in prison.
I wonder if she thought the remains were safest in her cellar? If it hadn’t been for plumbing issues, they probably wouldn’t have been found until after she passed away.
As for the father of her son–good question. She must have a way with men.
I hadn’t heard of her, but that’s quite the gruesome story!
Yay, I found one you hadn’t heard of! 😀
I also had not heard of her but now I have! Creepy story indeed! Ice cream? I scream …
Yes, it brings a whole new meaning to that old nursery rhyme…
Another chapter in the “you can’t make this stuff up” category. I’m always fascinated by the narcissistic pychopath mentality. Scary that she’s passed those genes on.
Hopefully the fact her son is being raised by her parents will help, but then again, she was also raised by her parents.
I’m not sure a men’s prison is the answer. Maybe they have stricter security or something though.
FYI: I may not look at ice cream buckets the same way though. Ugh.
Anna from elements of emaginette
You got it! That’s exactly why they put her there.
I must admit I know have the “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago stuck in my head. LOL! You would have thought that she would dispose of the bodies better. Not very smart at all.
Yes, it’s strange she didn’t give that part more thought. But I guess it’s good she didn’t.
Egads! Yeah, I think it would’ve been smarter for her to get rid of the body-part ice cream containers. She really needs to stay away from men with H names.