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The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezing appliances in an residence in the western part of Austria.

The victims, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were uncovered on the end of last week. The cooling units were hidden behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The elder brother, a colleague of the Syrian woman, stated to police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but rejected intentional killing.

Speaking to the media recently, a spokesman for the legal authorities stated the two suspects were being held on "high likelihood of murder".

Personal details of those implicated have been withheld by authorities, in compliance with national regulations.

Their going missing was first reported by the female victim's relative, who is based in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Authorities said the male associate claimed at the time she had taken an extended trip with her daughter to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then found to have been used in foreign locations several times.

However when police examined the victim's residence, her mobile phone was located.

An individual also claimed overhearing a commotion in the dwelling, and screams of "mother" on the day the mother and child were thought to have disappeared.

An expanded official inquiry was started, with authorities finding multiple communications sent from the victim's mobile—among them a job termination message to her company and texts to the 55-year-old suspect.

Officials stated a significant cash transfer was also transferred to the individual.

A senior police official informed the press on recently that a storage facility had been secured before the vanishing and a freezer had been installed within.

The male siblings extracted the cooling unit from the storage space on the date the mother and daughter went missing, she said. And a week later, they purchased an additional appliance.

Authorities state they consider this suggests the fatalities were planned in advance.

"How they died could not be determined due to the advanced decay of the victims," the official said.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—said the precise timeline is not yet known, but the remains were professionally hidden and went unnoticed during a previous house search.

While the suspects were detained in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the 55-year-old acknowledged an event and to hiding the bodies. He denies any murderous intent, officials confirmed.

In a related development, his brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but rejected knowledge of a homicide.

The pair are at this time in custody awaiting trial in prisons in separate locations, situated at a distance.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative said the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the abrupt and violent termination of two human lives and reveals a cruel system".

"Female individuals are being killed due to the mere fact that they are female," they added.

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