🔗 Share this article

The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been discovered inside freezing appliances in an apartment in the western part of Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were detected on Friday. The cooling units were placed behind a drywall partition in the flat, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the Syrian woman, told law enforcement last week that there had been an incident—but disputed homicide.

Speaking to the media recently, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said the pair were being kept in custody on "high likelihood of murder".

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

Their going missing was originally brought to light by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Police said the 55-year-old suspect told them at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her child to see her family in Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized abroad several times.

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

An individual also stated listening to a commotion in the flat, and shouts of "mama" on the date the pair were believed to have vanished.

A wider police investigation was started, with investigators uncovering several texts sent from the mother's device—such as a job termination message to her employer and messages to the 55-year-old suspect.

Officials said a four-figure sum was also sent to the man.

Katja Tersch stated to the press on Tuesday that a rented space had been leased before the vanishing and a freezing appliance had been installed within.

The brothers took out the appliance from the unit on the day the woman and her child went missing, Tersch said. And a shortly afterward, they purchased an additional appliance.

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

"How they died could not be determined due to the state of decomposition of the victims," she stated.

A legal representative—of the public prosecutor's office—said the precise timeline is still unclear, but the victims were professionally hidden and not discovered during a earlier inspection.

While the suspects were detained in the summer, it was not until the 12th of November that the elder brother acknowledged an incident and to storing the victims. He denies any intent to kill, investigators stated.

At the same time, his younger brother acknowledged a concealment but rejected awareness of a homicide.

The brothers are currently in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in two Austrian cities, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister stated the "suspected killing of two... represents the sudden and brutal end of two individuals and exposes a brutal scheme".

"Female individuals are falling victim to homicide due to the simple reality that they are women and girls," they added.

"Gender-based killings are a deeply rooted and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."