The deceased of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezing appliances in an flat in the western part of Austria.
The deceased, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were found on Friday. The freezers were concealed behind a drywall partition in the flat, located in the city of Innsbruck.
Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in June. The older man, a work associate of the Syrian woman, stated to police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed intentional killing.
Addressing the media earlier, a official for the state prosecutor announced the brothers were being held on "serious suspicion of homicide".
Personal details of those involved have been withheld by police, in accordance with Austrian law.
The vanishing of the mother and child was initially flagged by the woman's cousin, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Authorities said the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had gone on 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 on multiple occasions.
Yet when officers searched the victim's residence, her cellphone was located.
An individual also reported listening to a disturbing sound in the apartment, and screams of "mum" on the day the pair were presumed to have gone missing.
An expanded police investigation was started, with investigators uncovering several texts sent from the mother's device—including a notice of quitting to her company and communications to the male colleague.
Authorities confirmed a four-figure sum was also moved to the man.
A senior police official informed the press on that day that a rented space had been leased before the mother and child went missing and a freezing appliance had been positioned inside.
The brothers took out the cooling unit from the unit on the day the mother and daughter vanished, Tersch said. And a shortly afterward, they obtained another freezer.
Officials believe they believe this indicates the deaths were planned in advance.
"How they died remains unclear due to the state of decomposition of the remains," the official commented.
The prosecutor's spokesman—representing the state—noted the exact sequence of events is not yet known, but the remains were expertly concealed and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.
Although the men were arrested in the summer, it was not until the 12th of November that the 55-year-old acknowledged an incident and to concealing the remains. He denies any plan to cause death, officials stated.
At the same time, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but rejected awareness of a killing.
The pair are at this time in detention before court proceedings in prisons in two Austrian cities, situated at a distance.
Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister said the "suspected killing of two... symbolizes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and uncovers a heartless setup".
"Female individuals are being killed due to the mere fact that they are women and girls," they went on to say.
"Murders of women are a strongly established and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."
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