Disturbing Find: Bodies of Missing Mother and Child Located in Freezing Units in Austria

The deceased of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been located inside freezing appliances in an flat in western Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for a number of months, were found on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The older man, a colleague of the female victim, stated to authorities last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but denied murder.

Addressing journalists previously, a representative for the public prosecutor's office announced the brothers were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of intentional killing".

The names of those concerned have not been released by authorities, in compliance with Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was first reported by the woman's cousin, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Police revealed the 55-year-old suspect informed them at the time she had gone on an prolonged visit with her child to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then noted as being active overseas on multiple occasions.

But when investigators examined the mother's apartment, her cellphone was discovered.

A witness also stated hearing a disturbing sound in the apartment, and screams of "mama" on the day the mother and child were believed to have vanished.

An expanded official inquiry was launched, with officers discovering various messages sent from the woman's phone—among them a notice of quitting to her employer and texts to the male associate.

Law enforcement said a significant cash transfer was also transferred to the suspect.

A senior police official informed reporters on Tuesday that a storage unit had been leased before the vanishing and a freezing appliance had been installed within.

The two suspects removed the cooling unit from the storage space on the very day the woman and her child went missing, she said. And a shortly afterward, they purchased an additional appliance.

Investigators state they think this suggests the demise were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise remains unclear due to the state of decomposition of the remains," the official commented.

The prosecutor's spokesman—representing the state—stated the exact sequence of events is still unclear, but the remains were professionally hidden and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

While the men were arrested in June, it was not until November 12 that the suspect confessed to an incident and to hiding the bodies. He rejects any plan to cause death, authorities confirmed.

In a related development, his younger brother acknowledged a cover-up but denied involvement in a killing.

The pair are currently in custody awaiting trial in prisons in two Austrian cities, situated at a distance.

Via a shared communication, 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 a mother and child and reveals a cruel system".

"Female individuals are being murdered due to the simple reality that they are of the female gender," they went on to say.

"Femicides are a profoundly embedded and widespread concern that we must combat firmly."