🔗 Share this article

The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been found inside freezers in an residence in western Austria.

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were detected on Friday. The cooling units were hidden behind a false wall in the apartment, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The older man, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told law enforcement last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but rejected intentional killing.

Addressing reporters recently, a official for the public prosecutor's office stated the pair were being kept in custody on "serious suspicion of murder".

The identities of those implicated have been withheld by police, in compliance with local legislation.

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

Investigators revealed the male associate informed them at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her daughter to travel to her relatives in Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then noted as being active in foreign locations several times.

Yet when investigators entered the mother's apartment, her smartphone was found.

A witness also reported overhearing a disturbing sound in the apartment, and cries of "mother" on the occasion the two were presumed to have gone missing.

An expanded official inquiry was started, with authorities uncovering various messages transmitted via the mother's device—including a job termination message to her workplace and communications to the male colleague.

Law enforcement confirmed a amount in the thousands was also sent to the man.

A senior police official told the press on that day that a storage unit had been secured before the mother and child went missing and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The brothers removed the freezer from the facility on the very day the mother and daughter vanished, the official revealed. And a shortly afterward, they obtained another freezer.

Authorities say they believe this points to the demise were premeditated.

"The cause of death remains unclear due to the advanced decay of the victims," she stated.

Mayr—from the legal authorities—stated the exact sequence of events is still unclear, but the remains were professionally hidden and were not found during a previous house search.

While the brothers were detained in June, it was not until the 12th of November that the suspect confessed to an incident and to hiding the bodies. He denies any plan to cause death, authorities said.

At the same time, his younger brother confessed to a attempt to hide evidence but disputed awareness of a killing.

The two suspects are currently in pre-trial detention in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, 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 exposes a brutal scheme".

"Women and girls are being murdered due to the mere fact that they are female," they went on to say.

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