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

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for several months, were found on Friday. The freezers were concealed 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 taken into custody in June. The older man, a colleague of the female victim, informed police last week that there had been an incident—but disputed murder.

Addressing journalists recently, a spokesman for the legal authorities announced the pair were being kept in custody on "serious suspicion of homicide".

Personal details of those involved have not been released by police, in compliance with Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was initially flagged by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Investigators stated the male associate claimed at the time she had taken an prolonged visit with her daughter to see her family in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then found to have been used abroad repeatedly.

But when officers examined the woman's home, her mobile phone was found.

A witness also stated hearing a disturbing sound in the flat, and shouts of "mother" on the occasion the pair were thought to have disappeared.

A wider criminal probe was started, with authorities finding multiple communications sent from the mother's device—among them a resignation letter to her workplace and messages to the male colleague.

Law enforcement confirmed a significant cash transfer was also sent to the man.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office told media representatives on Tuesday that a storage unit had been rented out before the vanishing and a freezer had been placed there.

The male siblings extracted the cooling unit from the facility on the day the woman and her child disappeared, the official said. And a seven days after, they acquired another freezer.

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

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

Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—said the specific order of occurrences is yet to be determined, but the bodies were professionally hidden and were not found during a prior examination.

While the suspects were taken into custody in June, it was not until November 12 that the 55-year-old admitted to an event and to storing the victims. He rejects any intent to kill, investigators stated.

In a related development, his brother acknowledged a concealment but disputed awareness of a killing.

The two suspects are presently in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, situated at a distance.

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 abrupt and violent termination of two human lives and uncovers a heartless setup".

"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are of the female gender," they continued.

"Murders of women are a profoundly embedded and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."