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The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezing appliances in an flat in the western part of Austria.

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

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the female victim, stated to police last week that there had been an accident—but rejected intentional killing.

Speaking to reporters earlier, a spokesman for the legal authorities said the pair were being kept in custody on "high likelihood of homicide".

Personal details of those involved have not been released by authorities, in following Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was originally brought to light by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Investigators said the woman's colleague informed them at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her child to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then noted as being active in foreign locations several times.

Yet when officers examined the mother's apartment, her mobile phone was located.

A witness also stated overhearing a loud noise in the dwelling, and screams of "mama" on the date the mother and child were presumed to have gone missing.

A broader police investigation was started, with authorities finding various messages sent from the woman's phone—such as a job termination message to her employer and communications to the 55-year-old suspect.

Officials confirmed a significant cash transfer was also sent to the man.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office stated to the press on recently that a storage facility had been rented out before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The brothers extracted the appliance from the facility on the day the mother and daughter vanished, the official said. And a week later, they purchased another freezer.

Officials state they consider this suggests the deaths were intentionally orchestrated.

"How they died remains unclear due to the advanced decay of the victims," Tersch stated.

The prosecutor's spokesman—of the public prosecutor's office—stated the precise timeline is still unclear, but the bodies were expertly concealed and went unnoticed during a previous house search.

Although the men were arrested in the summer, it was not until November 12 that the elder brother admitted to an incident and to concealing the remains. He disputes any intent to kill, officials confirmed.

At the same time, his younger brother acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but disputed knowledge of a homicide.

The two suspects are at this time in pre-trial detention 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 "reported homicide of mother and child... represents the abrupt and violent termination of two individuals and reveals a brutal scheme".

"Women and girls are being killed due to the sole reason that they are of the female gender," they went on to say.

"Femicides are a profoundly embedded and widespread concern that we must address decisively."