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The remains of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezers in an flat in the western part of Austria.

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were uncovered on Friday. The freezers were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, located in the Innsbruck area.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The older man, a work associate of the Syrian woman, stated to police last week that there had been an incident—but disputed homicide.

Informing the media previously, a official for the public prosecutor's office announced the brothers were being held on "serious suspicion of homicide".

The names of those concerned have not been released by police, in compliance with local legislation.

The vanishing of the mother and child was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who is based in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Investigators revealed the 55-year-old suspect informed them at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her child to see her family in Turkey.

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

Yet when officers entered the mother's apartment, her mobile phone was located.

A witness also claimed overhearing a loud noise in the flat, and shouts of "mum" on the day the two were thought to have disappeared.

An expanded criminal probe was initiated, with investigators uncovering multiple communications transmitted via the mother's device—including a notice of quitting to her company and texts to the male associate.

Law enforcement said a four-figure sum was also transferred to the individual.

Katja Tersch stated to the press on Tuesday that a storage facility had been rented out before the mother and child went missing and a cooling unit had been placed there.

The brothers extracted the freezer from the facility on the date the woman and her child disappeared, Tersch said. And a shortly afterward, they purchased a second unit.

Authorities state they consider this suggests the fatalities were intentionally orchestrated.

"The cause of death could not be determined due to the advanced decay of the remains," Tersch said.

The prosecutor's spokesman—representing the state—stated the exact sequence of events is still unclear, but the remains were expertly concealed and went unnoticed during a previous house search.

Although the brothers were arrested in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the elder brother admitted to an event and to storing the victims. He rejects any murderous intent, officials stated.

In a related development, his younger brother acknowledged a cover-up but rejected knowledge of a killing.

The pair are currently in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in separate locations, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative said the "alleged double murder... symbolizes the sudden and brutal end of two individuals and exposes a brutal scheme".

"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the sole reason that they are female," they added.

"Femicides are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must fight resolutely."