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The bodies of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been located inside freezers in an apartment in western Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were found on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a false wall in the apartment, located in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in the month of June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the female victim, stated to law enforcement last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but denied intentional killing.

Informing journalists earlier, a representative for the public prosecutor's office said the brothers were being held on "serious suspicion of intentional killing".

The identities of those concerned have been withheld by authorities, in accordance with national regulations.

Their going missing was first reported by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Investigators stated the woman's colleague told them at the time she had gone on an long journey with her daughter to travel to her relatives in Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then noted as being active abroad several times.

Yet when officers searched the victim's residence, her mobile phone was discovered.

An individual also stated overhearing a loud noise in the apartment, and shouts of "mum" on the day the two were believed to have vanished.

An expanded official inquiry was launched, with officers uncovering various messages transmitted via the mother's device—among them a job termination message to her employer and communications to the male colleague.

Officials stated a amount in the thousands was also moved to the suspect.

A senior police official informed reporters on Tuesday that a storage facility had been secured before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been placed there.

The brothers removed the cooling unit from the unit on the date the victims vanished, Tersch revealed. And a week later, they obtained another freezer.

Investigators state they think this suggests the demise were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise was not identifiable due to the advanced decay of the bodies," she said.

A legal representative—of the public prosecutor's office—stated the exact sequence of events is yet to be determined, but the victims were professionally hidden and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

Although the suspects were taken into custody in June, it was not until 12 November that the suspect confessed to an event and to hiding the bodies. He disputes any plan to cause death, officials stated.

At the same time, his younger brother confessed to a cover-up but disputed involvement in a killing.

The two suspects are currently in detention before court proceedings in prisons in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative declared the "alleged double murder... represents the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and exposes a brutal scheme".

"Females of all ages are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are of the female gender," they went on to say.

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