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

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been missing for several months, were detected on the end of last week. The freezers were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the dwelling, located in the city of Innsbruck.

A pair of males, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were arrested in June. The older man, a work associate of the Syrian woman, told authorities last week that there had been an incident—but rejected murder.

Speaking to the media previously, a official for the state prosecutor announced the two suspects were being held on "serious suspicion of homicide".

The identities of those implicated have not been released by authorities, in accordance with local legislation.

The family's disappearance was originally brought to light by the female victim's relative, who resides in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

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

The victim's bank card was then found to have been used overseas on multiple occasions.

Yet when officers searched the woman's home, her smartphone was found.

Someone also stated hearing a loud noise in the dwelling, and shouts of "mother" on the day the two were thought to have disappeared.

A wider criminal probe was started, with authorities finding several texts originating from the mother's device—among them a notice of quitting to her employer and messages to the male associate.

Authorities stated a significant cash transfer was also sent to the man.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office informed media representatives on Tuesday that a storage unit had been secured before the vanishing and a freezing appliance had been placed there.

The male siblings removed the appliance from the unit on the day the victims vanished, she stated. And a week later, they acquired another freezer.

Authorities say they consider this points to the fatalities were intentionally orchestrated.

"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the advanced decay of the victims," the official said.

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the bodies were carefully placed and not discovered during a earlier inspection.

Although the suspects were detained in the summer, it was not until the 12th of November that the 55-year-old acknowledged an incident and to hiding the bodies. He disputes any murderous intent, authorities confirmed.

In a related development, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but rejected awareness of a murder.

The brothers are at this time in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and reveals a heartless setup".

"Women and girls are being murdered due to the simple reality that they are women and girls," they went on to say.

"Gender-based killings are a profoundly embedded and widespread concern that we must combat firmly."