A woman in Austria nicknamed the "ice lady" has been sentenced to life in prison after she confessed to killing both her husband and lover and then freezing their remains.

Estibaliz Carranza told a judge in her native Austria that she killed her husband, Holger Holz, in 2008 after she shot him while he was sitting at his computer in their home. Carranza also admitted to killing her new partner, Manfred Hinterberger, in 2010 while he slept in their bed.

She told authorities that she killed both of them by shooting them in the back of the head at close range. Carranza then explained how she disposed of the bodies. Using a chainsaw she dismembered the bodies and then froze the remains before burying them in concrete in the cellar of her ice cream store in Vienna.

The remains of both men were found while maintenance crews were working in 2011.

Judge Susanne Lehr told a court in Vienna that Carranza's confession and her state of "considerable psychological damage" were taken into consideration, but her meticulous planning and her actions after the murders counted against her and justified the life sentence, as reported by AFP.

Reports in Austria state that Carranza cried as she told the judge: "All I can say is that I'm sorry I took the lives of Holger and Manfred."

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Carranza, a Mexican-Spanish immigrant, told prosecutors that Holz began turning abusive shortly after the two wed and accused him of joining a Hare Krishna sect. She also stated that he had refused to move out when after their divorce even though she was seeing a new man.

She admitted in 2010 to firing four shots at Hinterberger after she had confronted him because she thought he was cheating on her.

Carranza's lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, the same attorney who defended Josef Fritzl – the Austrian who locked up his daughter for 24 years and fathered seven children with her – told local media that he planned to appeal the verdict.