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The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been found inside freezing appliances in an residence in western Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were uncovered on the end of last week. The cooling units were concealed behind a drywall partition in the flat, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

A pair of males, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The elder brother, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told law enforcement last week that there had been an accident—but rejected intentional killing.

Speaking to reporters earlier, a spokesman for the legal authorities said the two suspects were being held on "high likelihood of homicide".

The names of those implicated have not been disclosed by police, in compliance with Austrian law.

Their going missing was originally brought to light by the woman's cousin, who resides in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Police revealed the 55-year-old suspect claimed at the time she had embarked on an prolonged visit with her child to visit her parents in Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then discovered to be utilized in foreign locations several times.

Yet when investigators entered the mother's apartment, her cellphone was found.

An individual also claimed hearing a loud noise in the apartment, and screams of "mother" on the day the two were believed to have vanished.

A wider official inquiry was started, with officers finding various messages sent from the mother's device—including a job termination message to her workplace and communications to the male colleague.

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

The head of the State Criminal Police Office stated to reporters on recently that a storage facility had been secured before the mother and child went missing and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The brothers took out the freezer from the facility on the day the victims went missing, she said. And a week later, they obtained another freezer.

Investigators state they consider this suggests the fatalities were intentionally orchestrated.

"The reason for their demise was not identifiable due to the condition of the victims," Tersch commented.

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the specific order of occurrences is yet to be determined, but the victims were expertly concealed and were not found during a previous house search.

Although the brothers were taken into custody in the summer, it was not until 12 November that the 55-year-old admitted to an incident and to concealing the remains. He disputes any plan to cause death, officials confirmed.

At the same time, his younger brother confessed to a cover-up but disputed involvement in a homicide.

The pair are at this time in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Through a combined announcement, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister said the "alleged double murder... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and uncovers a brutal scheme".

"Female individuals are being killed due to the sole reason that they are female," they went on to say.

"Gender-based killings are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."