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The bodies of a mother aged 34 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 daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were uncovered on Friday. The cooling units were concealed behind a plasterboard wall in the flat, located in the Innsbruck area.

A pair of males, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in the month of June. The older man, a colleague of the Syrian woman, informed law enforcement last week that there had been an incident—but rejected murder.

Informing journalists recently, a representative for the public prosecutor's office stated the two suspects were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of homicide".

Personal details of those implicated have been withheld by police, in accordance with local legislation.

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the woman's cousin, who is based in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

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

The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized overseas on multiple occasions.

Yet when police searched the mother's apartment, her smartphone was discovered.

An individual also reported overhearing a commotion in the flat, and shouts of "mother" on the day the mother and child were thought to have disappeared.

An expanded official inquiry was launched, with officers discovering various messages sent from the woman's phone—including a resignation letter to her workplace and communications to the male colleague.

Officials said a amount in the thousands was also sent to the suspect.

Katja Tersch informed the press on that day that a storage unit had been leased before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The male siblings extracted the freezer from the facility on the date the mother and daughter disappeared, Tersch revealed. And a seven days after, they obtained a second unit.

Investigators say they believe this indicates the demise were premeditated.

"The cause of death remains unclear due to the condition of the victims," the official stated.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—stated the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the remains were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a prior examination.

While the men were taken into custody in June, it was only on the 12th of November that the 55-year-old acknowledged an event and to storing the victims. He denies any murderous intent, investigators said.

In a related development, his younger brother admitted to a concealment but rejected awareness of a homicide.

The pair are at this time in detention before court proceedings 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 declared the "alleged double murder... represents the swift and cruel conclusion of two individuals and uncovers a heartless setup".

"Women and girls are being killed due to the mere fact that they are female," they went on to say.

"Murders of women are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must fight resolutely."