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The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezers in an residence in the western part of Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for a number of months, were detected on the end of last week. The freezers were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, located in the city of Innsbruck.

Two individuals, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were arrested in the month of June. The elder brother, a colleague of the female victim, told law enforcement last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed murder.

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

The identities of those implicated have not been released by police, in accordance with Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was first reported by the woman's cousin, who resides in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Authorities revealed the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had gone on an prolonged visit with her daughter to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized overseas repeatedly.

But when officers searched the woman's home, her mobile phone was discovered.

Someone also claimed overhearing a loud noise in the apartment, and shouts of "mum" on the occasion the mother and child were presumed to have gone missing.

A broader criminal probe was launched, with investigators uncovering various messages sent from the woman's phone—among them a job termination message to her workplace and texts to the male associate.

Law enforcement said a significant cash transfer was also transferred to the individual.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office informed media representatives on that day that a rented space had been secured before the mother and child went missing and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The brothers removed the cooling unit from the storage space on the date the woman and her child vanished, Tersch revealed. And a seven days after, they acquired a second unit.

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

"The cause of death could not be determined due to the condition of the bodies," Tersch stated.

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—stated the precise timeline is yet to be determined, but the bodies were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a previous house search.

While the men were arrested in June, it was only on November 12 that the elder brother confessed to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He disputes any intent to kill, officials confirmed.

In a related development, his younger brother admitted to a concealment but rejected involvement in a homicide.

The pair are presently in pre-trial detention in jails in separate locations, situated at a distance.

In a joint statement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and uncovers a brutal scheme".

"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are female," they continued.

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