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

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

Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were arrested in June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told police last week that there had been an accident—but disputed homicide.

Addressing journalists earlier, a representative for the state prosecutor stated the two suspects were being detained on "high likelihood of homicide".

The identities of those involved have been withheld by law enforcement, in following Austrian law.

The family's disappearance was first reported by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Authorities stated the woman's colleague told them at the time she had embarked on an extended trip with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.

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

But when police entered the victim's residence, her smartphone was found.

A witness also stated overhearing a commotion in the apartment, and screams of "mama" on the occasion the mother and child were presumed to have gone missing.

A wider criminal probe was launched, with authorities finding multiple communications originating from the woman's phone—among them a job termination message to her company and texts to the male colleague.

Officials said a amount in the thousands was also transferred to the man.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office told the press on recently that a storage unit had been rented out before the mother and child went missing and a freezing appliance had been positioned inside.

The brothers extracted the appliance from the unit on the day the mother and daughter went missing, Tersch revealed. And a week later, they acquired an additional appliance.

Authorities state they consider this points to the demise were premeditated.

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

A legal representative—of the public prosecutor's office—said the exact sequence of events is not yet known, but the victims were carefully placed and were not found during a earlier inspection.

While the men were detained in the summer, it was not until 12 November that the suspect confessed to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He disputes any intent to kill, authorities stated.

At the same time, his brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but denied knowledge of a murder.

The pair are presently in pre-trial detention in prisons in two Austrian cities, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the abrupt and violent termination of two individuals and uncovers a cruel system".

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

"Femicides are a deeply rooted and issue affecting all of society that we must fight resolutely."