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

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were detected on Friday. The freezers were placed behind a drywall partition in the apartment, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The elder brother, a colleague of the female victim, informed authorities last week that there had been an incident—but rejected homicide.

Speaking to journalists recently, a spokesman for the state prosecutor announced the two suspects were being kept in custody on "strong suspicion of intentional killing".

The identities of those implicated have not been disclosed by authorities, in following Austrian law.

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who resides in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Authorities revealed the woman's colleague told them at the time she had gone on an prolonged visit with her daughter to see her family in Turkey.

Her bank card was then found to have been used abroad repeatedly.

Yet when police examined the victim's residence, her mobile phone was found.

Someone also claimed overhearing a loud noise in the flat, and cries of "mother" on the date the pair were believed to have vanished.

A wider official inquiry was initiated, with officers finding several texts originating from the mother's device—among them a job termination message to her company and messages to the male associate.

Authorities said a four-figure sum was also moved to the suspect.

A senior police official told media representatives on recently that a storage facility had been rented out before the victims' disappearance and a freezing appliance had been positioned inside.

The brothers took out the appliance from the storage space on the day the mother and daughter vanished, she said. And a seven days after, they obtained a second unit.

Officials say they consider this indicates the deaths were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise could not be determined due to the condition of the remains," she said.

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—said the exact sequence of events is yet to be determined, but the remains were professionally hidden and not discovered during a earlier inspection.

While the men were detained in the summer, it was not until November 12 that the 55-year-old confessed to an occurrence and to hiding the bodies. He denies any intent to kill, investigators stated.

Meanwhile, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a concealment but denied awareness of a homicide.

The pair are currently in detention before court proceedings in prisons in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative stated the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and exposes a brutal scheme".

"Females of all ages are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are female," they continued.

"Femicides are a strongly established and widespread concern that we must fight resolutely."