Tragic Discovery: Remains of Missing Mum and Daughter Located in Freezing Units in the Alpine Nation

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

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were uncovered on the end of last week. The cooling units were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two individuals, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were taken into custody in the month of June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, stated to authorities last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but rejected homicide.

Addressing the media earlier, a representative for the state prosecutor stated the brothers were being detained on "high likelihood of intentional killing".

Personal details of those implicated have not been disclosed by police, in following Austrian law.

Their going missing was originally brought to light by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Investigators said the 55-year-old suspect told them at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her child to travel to her relatives in Turkey.

Her bank card was then noted as being active in foreign locations on multiple occasions.

However when police examined the woman's home, her cellphone was located.

An individual also claimed listening to a loud noise in the flat, and cries of "mum" on the day the pair were thought to have disappeared.

A broader official inquiry was started, with officers finding several texts originating from the woman's phone—including a job termination message to her company and texts to the male colleague.

Authorities said a four-figure sum was also moved to the individual.

Katja Tersch stated to media representatives on Tuesday that a storage facility had been leased before the vanishing and a freezer had been positioned inside.

The male siblings extracted the appliance from the facility on the date the mother and daughter went missing, the official stated. And a week later, they acquired another freezer.

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

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

Mayr—from the legal authorities—said the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the remains were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

While the suspects were detained in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the 55-year-old confessed to an occurrence and to hiding the bodies. He denies any plan to cause death, authorities said.

Meanwhile, his brother confessed to a concealment but rejected knowledge of a killing.

The two suspects are at this time in custody awaiting trial in jails in two Austrian cities, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

In a joint statement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "suspected killing of two... symbolizes the swift and cruel conclusion of a mother and child and exposes a brutal scheme".

"Female individuals are being killed due to the mere fact that they are female," they added.

"Femicides are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."