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

The victims, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were detected on Friday. The cooling units were concealed behind a plasterboard wall in the dwelling, located in the city of Innsbruck.

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The older man, a work associate of the Syrian woman, informed police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed homicide.

Speaking to the media earlier, a representative for the legal authorities announced the pair were being detained on "high likelihood of intentional killing".

Personal details of those implicated have not been released by authorities, in accordance with Austrian law.

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the woman's cousin, who is based in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Police revealed the 55-year-old suspect claimed at the time she had taken an extended trip with her child to visit her parents in Turkey.

Her bank card was then discovered to be utilized in foreign locations repeatedly.

But when officers entered the mother's apartment, her smartphone was found.

Someone also claimed listening to a loud noise in the dwelling, and cries of "mama" on the date the two were believed to have vanished.

An expanded criminal probe was started, with officers uncovering various messages originating from the victim's mobile—such as a resignation letter to her company and communications to the male colleague.

Law enforcement said a four-figure sum was also moved to the man.

The head of the State Criminal Police Office told reporters on that day that a storage facility had been secured before the victims' disappearance and a freezing appliance had been installed within.

The two suspects extracted the appliance from the unit on the day the mother and daughter vanished, the official revealed. And a week later, they obtained a second unit.

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

"How they died was not identifiable due to the advanced decay of the victims," the official stated.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—noted the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the remains were professionally hidden and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

While the suspects were detained in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the elder brother acknowledged an incident and to hiding the bodies. He denies any intent to kill, investigators said.

Meanwhile, his younger brother confessed to a concealment but rejected involvement in a homicide.

The two suspects are currently in pre-trial detention in detention centers in separate locations, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... symbolizes the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and reveals a heartless setup".

"Females of all ages are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are female," they went on to say.

"Femicides are a deeply rooted and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."