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The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezing appliances in an residence 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 Friday. The cooling units were placed behind a drywall partition in the dwelling, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in the month of June. The elder brother, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told authorities last week that there had been an accident—but denied homicide.

Addressing journalists previously, a official for the public prosecutor's office announced the pair were being held on "strong suspicion of murder".

Personal details of those involved have been withheld by police, in accordance with national regulations.

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Police said the male associate informed them at the time she had embarked on an extended trip with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.

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

However when police searched the mother's apartment, her mobile phone was found.

An individual also claimed listening to a commotion in the flat, and shouts of "mum" on the occasion the two were believed to have vanished.

An expanded police investigation was initiated, with officers discovering several texts originating from the woman's phone—among them a resignation letter to her workplace and messages to the male colleague.

Authorities confirmed a four-figure sum was also transferred to the individual.

Katja Tersch stated to the press on recently that a storage facility had been leased before the victims' disappearance and a freezer had been positioned inside.

The brothers took out the cooling unit from the storage space on the date the mother and daughter went missing, Tersch stated. And a week later, they obtained another freezer.

Officials believe they believe this points to the demise were intentionally orchestrated.

"The reason for their demise could not be determined due to the state of decomposition of the remains," Tersch commented.

Mayr—representing the state—stated the specific order of occurrences is yet to be determined, but the victims were professionally hidden and not discovered during a previous house search.

Although the men were detained in June, it was not until November 12 that the 55-year-old confessed to an incident and to concealing the remains. He denies any plan to cause death, investigators confirmed.

Meanwhile, his younger brother confessed to a cover-up but disputed awareness of a murder.

The brothers are presently in custody awaiting trial in jails in two Austrian cities, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Through a combined announcement, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... symbolizes the abrupt and violent termination of two human lives and uncovers a brutal scheme".

"Females of all ages are being killed due to the sole reason that they are women and girls," they went on to say.

"Murders of women are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must fight resolutely."