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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 deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were found on Friday. The freezers were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the dwelling, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, told authorities last week that there had been an accident—but rejected murder.

Addressing journalists previously, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office stated the brothers were being detained on "high likelihood of murder".

The identities of those involved have not been disclosed by authorities, in following national regulations.

The family's disappearance was first reported by the cousin of the mother, who is based in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Authorities stated the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had taken an long journey with her child to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then found to have been used in foreign locations repeatedly.

But when investigators entered the woman's home, her cellphone was located.

A witness also claimed overhearing a loud noise in the apartment, and screams of "mama" on the occasion the pair were believed to have vanished.

An expanded criminal probe was initiated, with officers discovering multiple communications sent from the mother's device—such as a job termination message to her company and messages to the male colleague.

Authorities confirmed a amount in the thousands was also moved to the man.

Katja Tersch told media representatives on that day that a storage facility had been secured before the mother and child went missing and a cooling unit had been positioned inside.

The brothers extracted the freezer from the unit on the very day the woman and her child disappeared, she stated. And a week later, they acquired another freezer.

Investigators believe they believe this indicates the demise were planned in advance.

"How they died could not be determined due to the advanced decay of the victims," the official said.

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—stated the precise timeline is not yet known, but the bodies were carefully placed and were not found during a earlier inspection.

Although the suspects were taken into custody in June, it was only on November 12 that the suspect admitted to an occurrence and to hiding the bodies. He rejects any plan to cause death, investigators confirmed.

In a related development, his 53-year-old sibling admitted to a cover-up but denied knowledge of a killing.

The two suspects are presently in pre-trial detention in prisons in separate locations, situated at a distance.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister declared the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the abrupt and violent termination of two human lives and uncovers a brutal scheme".

"Females of all ages are falling victim to homicide due to the simple reality that they are women and girls," they continued.

"Femicides are a deeply rooted and widespread concern that we must combat firmly."