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The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezers in an flat in western Austria.

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been missing for several months, were uncovered on Friday. The freezers were placed behind a false wall in the dwelling, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were taken into custody in the month of June. The elder brother, a work associate of the Syrian woman, informed law enforcement last week that there had been an accident—but denied intentional killing.

Speaking to journalists previously, a official for the public prosecutor's office stated the brothers were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of homicide".

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

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Investigators said the male associate informed them at the time she had gone on an long journey with her daughter to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then found to have been used in foreign locations on multiple occasions.

Yet when officers entered the mother's apartment, her smartphone was found.

A witness also claimed hearing a commotion in the apartment, and cries of "mother" on the occasion the mother and child were thought to have disappeared.

An expanded criminal probe was launched, with authorities finding various messages originating from the woman's phone—including a job termination message to her employer and communications to the male associate.

Law enforcement stated a four-figure sum was also sent to the individual.

Katja Tersch stated to media representatives on Tuesday that a storage unit had been secured before the mother and child went missing and a freezing appliance had been installed within.

The two suspects removed the appliance from the facility on the very day the mother and daughter went missing, Tersch revealed. And a week later, they obtained another freezer.

Authorities state they think this points to the fatalities were intentionally orchestrated.

"How they died was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the remains," the official said.

Mayr—representing the state—stated the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the bodies were expertly concealed and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

Although the men were arrested in the summer, it was only on November 12 that the elder brother admitted to an incident and to hiding the bodies. He denies any plan to cause death, investigators confirmed.

Meanwhile, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but denied involvement in a killing.

The brothers are at this time in detention before court proceedings in jails in Innsbruck and Salzburg, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative declared the "alleged double murder... constitutes the abrupt and violent termination of a mother and child and reveals a cruel system".

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

"Murders of women are a deeply rooted and society-wide problem that we must combat firmly."