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The remains of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezers in an residence in western Austria.

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were found on the end of last week. The cooling units were concealed behind a drywall partition in the flat, located in the Innsbruck area.

Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were detained in the month of June. The older man, a colleague of the Syrian woman, stated to police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but rejected intentional killing.

Speaking to reporters previously, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office stated the brothers were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of homicide".

Personal details of those involved have not been disclosed by law enforcement, in compliance with national regulations.

The family's disappearance was first reported by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Police revealed the male associate informed them at the time she had taken an prolonged visit with her daughter to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then discovered to be utilized overseas repeatedly.

However when investigators searched the victim's residence, her cellphone was located.

An individual also reported overhearing a commotion in the apartment, and cries of "mum" on the occasion the pair were presumed to have gone missing.

An expanded criminal probe was started, with officers finding various messages transmitted via the woman's phone—including a job termination message to her company and messages to the 55-year-old suspect.

Officials stated a four-figure sum was also sent to the individual.

Katja Tersch informed the press on recently that a storage facility had been rented out before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The two suspects extracted the cooling unit from the storage space on the date the mother and daughter vanished, Tersch said. And a week later, they acquired an additional appliance.

Authorities believe they think this suggests the deaths were premeditated.

"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the victims," she said.

Mayr—representing the state—noted the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the bodies were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a previous house search.

While the brothers were arrested in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the elder brother admitted to an event and to concealing the remains. He disputes any murderous intent, authorities stated.

In a related development, his brother confessed to a concealment but disputed awareness of a killing.

The two suspects are currently in pre-trial detention in prisons in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Through a combined announcement, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative said the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and uncovers a heartless setup".

"Female individuals are being killed due to the sole reason that they are of the female gender," they continued.

"Femicides are a deeply rooted and widespread concern that we must combat firmly."