Residents in shock

Body in Viennese cellar: “Reminiscent of ice lady”

It was in this cellar in Margareten that the workers made the horrifying discovery.(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

Residents of the small neighborhood of Hundsturm in Vienna-Margareten are stunned: a badly decomposed corpse was found there by construction workers in a cellar compartment on Tuesday. Buried under rubble, the lifeless body is said to have been there for a while. "A horror story like that of the ice lady", recalls one of the neighbors of the case from 2011.

"I couldn't help the police either, as I hadn't noticed anything suspicious recently," says the Armenian owner of a shoe service business at the same address, who is at a loss. A day earlier, workers carrying out renovation work in one of the cellars in Margareten's Bräuhausgasse had discovered the already badly decomposed body. They were very shocked. 

But word of the horrific event also spread quickly in the neighborhood: the two students Donata and Franziska flinched in horror when they heard about the body in the cellar.

It was in this cellar in Margareten that the workers made the horrifying discovery.(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

The body was discovered by the workers in a cellar compartment during renovation work.(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

The Hundsturm neighborhood is stunned.(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

What seems clear is that the body was hidden in the cellar a long time ago. However, the police are still investigating whether it was murder or manslaughter. Just as unclear as the identity of the deceased is a possible "murder motive".

Case leaves amateur criminologists speculating
"Our detectives are investigating in all directions", says Julia Schick, press spokeswoman for the Vienna police. Amateur criminologists believe that a deceased person may have been hidden by relatives or acquaintances so that they could continue to collect their income, pension, etc. 

Case reminiscent of that of the "ice lady"
If you take a look back in time, there are some parallels to the case of the "ice cream lady" from 2011. Estibaliz Carranza had murdered two men and she had also hidden the body parts in a cellar compartment under her ice cream parlor in Vienna-Meidling. Her terrible secret was also revealed at the time due to repair work in the cellar.