🔗 Share this article

The bodies of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been discovered inside freezing appliances in an residence in the western part of Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were detected on Friday. The freezers were concealed behind a false wall in the flat, located in the city of Innsbruck.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were taken into custody in June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, stated to police last week that there had been an incident—but denied murder.

Speaking to journalists recently, a representative for the legal authorities announced the pair were being detained on "high likelihood of intentional killing".

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

The vanishing of the mother and child was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Authorities said the male associate claimed at the time she had gone on an long journey with her child to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then found to have been used in foreign locations repeatedly.

Yet when police examined the mother's apartment, her cellphone was located.

Someone also claimed hearing a loud noise in the dwelling, and cries of "mama" on the day the two were thought to have disappeared.

A wider police investigation was started, with investigators finding several texts transmitted via the victim's mobile—including a resignation letter to her employer and messages to the male colleague.

Law enforcement confirmed a amount in the thousands was also moved to the individual.

A senior police official told reporters on Tuesday that a storage unit had been leased before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been positioned inside.

The two suspects extracted the appliance from the storage space on the day the victims vanished, Tersch stated. And a shortly afterward, they purchased another freezer.

Authorities believe they consider this points to the deaths were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise was not identifiable due to the advanced decay of the bodies," Tersch said.

Mayr—representing the state—stated the precise timeline is not yet known, but the bodies were expertly concealed and not discovered during a earlier inspection.

Although the men were detained in June, it was not until 12 November that the suspect admitted to an incident and to concealing the remains. He rejects any plan to cause death, officials confirmed.

Meanwhile, his brother confessed to a concealment but disputed awareness of a homicide.

The two suspects are at this time in custody awaiting trial in detention centers in two Austrian cities, situated at a distance.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... symbolizes the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and uncovers a brutal scheme".

"Female individuals are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are female," they added.

"Femicides are a deeply rooted and issue affecting all of society that we must combat firmly."