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

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

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were arrested in the month of June. The older man, a colleague of the female victim, informed police last week that there had been an accident—but disputed murder.

Addressing reporters recently, a official for the legal authorities said the brothers were being detained on "strong suspicion of homicide".

The names of those involved have not been disclosed by police, in following local legislation.

Their going missing was originally brought to light by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

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

The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized abroad repeatedly.

However when police entered the woman's home, her smartphone was found.

A witness also stated listening to a disturbing sound in the apartment, and screams of "mother" on the date the two were believed to have vanished.

A wider official inquiry was started, with authorities discovering several texts originating from the mother's device—including a resignation letter to her employer and texts to the male colleague.

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

A senior police official told the press on recently that a rented space had been secured before the vanishing and a freezer had been placed there.

The two suspects took out the freezer from the facility on the very day the mother and daughter went missing, the official said. And a shortly afterward, they obtained another freezer.

Investigators state they believe this points to the deaths were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise remains unclear due to the state of decomposition of the remains," the official commented.

Mayr—from the legal authorities—said the exact sequence of events is still unclear, but the bodies were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

While the brothers were arrested in June, it was not until 12 November that the 55-year-old acknowledged an occurrence and to hiding the bodies. He disputes any intent to kill, investigators confirmed.

Meanwhile, his brother confessed to a attempt to hide evidence but denied knowledge of a homicide.

The two suspects are presently in pre-trial detention in detention centers 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 stated the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and reveals a cruel system".

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

"Femicides are a profoundly embedded and widespread concern that we must fight resolutely."