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

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were found on Friday. The cooling units were placed behind a false wall in the dwelling, situated in the Innsbruck area.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were arrested in the month of June. The elder brother, a colleague of the female victim, informed authorities last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but rejected murder.

Speaking to the media recently, a representative for the state prosecutor said the two suspects were being kept in custody on "high likelihood of murder".

Personal details of those concerned have been withheld by police, in accordance with Austrian law.

Their going missing was originally brought to light by the female victim's relative, who resides in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Investigators said the woman's colleague informed them at the time she had taken an prolonged visit with her child to see her family in Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then found to have been used abroad several times.

However when police entered the victim's residence, her mobile phone was discovered.

Someone also stated hearing a commotion in the dwelling, and cries of "mother" on the date the mother and child were believed to have vanished.

An expanded official inquiry was launched, with officers uncovering various messages originating from the victim's mobile—among them a job termination message to her employer and messages to the 55-year-old suspect.

Authorities confirmed a four-figure sum was also sent to the man.

A senior police official told media representatives on Tuesday that a storage unit had been secured before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been placed there.

The brothers took out the freezer from the unit on the date the woman and her child disappeared, the official revealed. And a week later, they obtained a second unit.

Officials believe they consider this suggests the fatalities were planned in advance.

"The cause of death remains unclear due to the state of decomposition of the victims," Tersch commented.

A legal representative—representing the state—stated the specific order of occurrences is not yet known, but the bodies were expertly concealed and not discovered during a prior examination.

Although the men were detained in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the 55-year-old admitted to an incident and to hiding the bodies. He rejects any plan to cause death, officials said.

In a related development, his brother confessed to a attempt to hide evidence but rejected knowledge of a homicide.

The pair are at this time in custody awaiting trial in jails in two Austrian cities, 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 sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and uncovers a heartless setup".

"Women and girls are being murdered due to the simple reality that they are female," they added.

"Murders of women are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must fight resolutely."