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The deceased of a mother aged 34 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 daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were detected on Friday. The cooling units were placed behind a false wall in the dwelling, located in the Innsbruck area.

Two individuals, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were arrested in June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the female victim, stated to authorities last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed intentional killing.

Informing journalists previously, a representative for the public prosecutor's office said the pair were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of intentional killing".

The identities of those involved have not been released by law enforcement, in compliance with Austrian law.

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

Authorities revealed the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her daughter to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized abroad on multiple occasions.

But when officers searched the woman's home, her cellphone was discovered.

A witness also stated hearing a disturbing sound in the dwelling, and screams of "mother" on the date the mother and child were thought to have disappeared.

A broader police investigation was launched, with officers finding various messages sent from the mother's device—among them a job termination message to her employer and messages to the male associate.

Officials stated a amount in the thousands was also sent to the individual.

A senior police official told the press on recently that a storage facility had been leased before the mother and child went missing and a freezing appliance had been positioned inside.

The male siblings took out the cooling unit from the unit on the date the woman and her child vanished, she stated. And a shortly afterward, they acquired another freezer.

Officials say they consider this suggests the deaths were planned in advance.

"The reason for their demise was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the remains," Tersch stated.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—said the exact sequence of events is yet to be determined, but the victims were expertly concealed and not discovered during a prior examination.

While the men were taken into custody in the summer, it was only on the 12th of November that the elder brother admitted to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He denies any plan to cause death, investigators confirmed.

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

The pair are presently in pre-trial detention in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

In a joint statement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "suspected killing of two... symbolizes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and reveals a heartless setup".

"Female individuals are being killed due to the sole reason that they are of the female gender," they went on to say.

"Murders of women are a deeply rooted and society-wide problem that we must combat firmly."