Disturbing Discovery: Bodies of Missing Mother and Child Located in Freezing Units in Austria

The bodies of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezing appliances in an flat in the western part of Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were uncovered on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a drywall partition in the apartment, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in the month of June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the Syrian woman, stated to law enforcement last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but denied murder.

Speaking to reporters recently, a official for the public prosecutor's office said the pair were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of murder".

The identities of those concerned have not been disclosed by police, in accordance with Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was first reported by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Investigators said the 55-year-old suspect claimed at the time she had gone on an long journey with her child to see her family in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then found to have been used in foreign locations on multiple occasions.

But when investigators entered the mother's apartment, her smartphone was located.

A witness also stated overhearing a disturbing sound in the flat, and cries of "mum" on the day the two were thought to have disappeared.

A wider criminal probe was started, with authorities finding several texts originating from the woman's phone—such as a notice of quitting to her workplace and communications to the male colleague.

Law enforcement said a four-figure sum was also moved to the individual.

Katja Tersch informed reporters on recently that a storage unit had been secured before the vanishing and a freezer had been installed within.

The brothers took out the freezer from the facility on the very day the woman and her child vanished, she revealed. And a week later, they acquired a second unit.

Investigators state they think this points to the deaths were intentionally orchestrated.

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

The prosecutor's spokesman—representing the state—noted the exact sequence of events is still unclear, but the victims were professionally hidden and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

Although the brothers were taken into custody in June, it was only on 12 November that the suspect acknowledged an event and to hiding the bodies. He denies any intent to kill, authorities confirmed.

At the same time, his younger brother confessed to a attempt to hide evidence but disputed involvement in a homicide.

The brothers are presently in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, situated at a distance.

Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... symbolizes the abrupt and violent termination of two individuals and exposes a cruel system".

"Females of all ages are being killed due to the simple reality that they are of the female gender," they added.

"Gender-based killings are a deeply rooted and widespread concern that we must fight resolutely."