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The remains of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been found inside freezing appliances in an flat in the western part of Austria.

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

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were arrested in June. The elder brother, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told law enforcement last week that there had been an incident—but rejected homicide.

Addressing journalists previously, a spokesman for the legal authorities stated the two suspects were being detained on "strong suspicion of homicide".

Personal details of those concerned have not been disclosed by law enforcement, in following local legislation.

Their going missing was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Police revealed the 55-year-old suspect informed them at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her child to see her family in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then discovered to be utilized overseas several times.

However when investigators entered the mother's apartment, her mobile phone was found.

A witness also claimed hearing a disturbing sound in the dwelling, and screams of "mama" on the date the pair were thought to have disappeared.

A wider police investigation was started, with officers finding several texts originating from the woman's phone—such as a resignation letter to her workplace and communications to the 55-year-old suspect.

Authorities confirmed a amount in the thousands was also sent to the suspect.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office informed the press on Tuesday that a storage unit had been rented out before the vanishing and a freezing appliance had been positioned inside.

The two suspects extracted the freezer from the storage space on the day the victims went missing, Tersch revealed. And a seven days after, they obtained an additional appliance.

Officials say they believe this points to the fatalities were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise could not be determined due to the condition of the bodies," Tersch stated.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—noted the precise timeline is yet to be determined, but the victims were expertly concealed and not discovered during a previous house search.

While the brothers were taken into custody in the summer, it was only on the 12th of November that the 55-year-old confessed to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He rejects any plan to cause death, authorities confirmed.

In a related development, his younger brother acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but rejected involvement in a killing.

The two suspects are presently in pre-trial detention in detention centers in two Austrian cities, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative stated the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and reveals a brutal scheme".

"Female individuals are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are female," they went on to say.

"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."