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The deceased of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezers in an apartment in western Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for several months, were detected on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a plasterboard wall in the dwelling, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The older man, a work associate of the Syrian woman, informed police last week that there had been an incident—but denied homicide.

Informing reporters earlier, a official for the legal authorities said the pair were being detained on "strong suspicion of homicide".

The names of those implicated have been withheld by law enforcement, 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.

Investigators revealed the male associate claimed at the time she had gone on an prolonged visit with her daughter to visit her parents in Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then noted as being active overseas repeatedly.

But when officers entered the woman's home, her mobile phone was found.

An individual also claimed overhearing a disturbing sound in the dwelling, and screams of "mother" on the date the pair were thought to have disappeared.

An expanded criminal probe was initiated, with officers discovering several texts sent from the victim's mobile—such as a notice of quitting to her workplace and communications to the male associate.

Law enforcement said a significant cash transfer was also moved to the man.

A senior police official told media representatives on Tuesday that a storage facility had been rented out before the mother and child went missing and a freezing appliance had been placed there.

The brothers removed the appliance from the facility on the day the victims disappeared, Tersch said. And a shortly afterward, they obtained an additional appliance.

Authorities say they think this suggests the deaths were planned in advance.

"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the remains," she stated.

The prosecutor's spokesman—from the legal authorities—stated the precise timeline is not yet known, but the victims were professionally hidden and not discovered during a previous house search.

Although the men were taken into custody in June, it was only on the 12th of November that the 55-year-old confessed to an occurrence and to storing the victims. He denies any plan to cause death, officials confirmed.

Meanwhile, his brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but disputed awareness of a killing.

The pair are currently in custody awaiting trial in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and exposes a heartless setup".

"Females of all ages are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are women and girls," they continued.

"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and society-wide problem that we must fight resolutely."