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The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been located inside freezing appliances in an flat in the western part of Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were found on the end of last week. The cooling units were hidden behind a drywall partition in the flat, located in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were arrested in the month of June. The elder brother, a colleague of the female victim, told authorities last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed homicide.

Speaking to the media earlier, a spokesman for the legal authorities said the pair were being held on "serious suspicion of intentional killing".

The identities of those implicated have not been disclosed by police, in following Austrian law.

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

Police said the 55-year-old suspect claimed at the time she had embarked on an prolonged visit with her child to visit her parents in Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then found to have been used overseas several times.

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

A witness also stated hearing a commotion in the flat, and shouts of "mother" on the occasion the two were believed to have vanished.

An expanded police investigation was initiated, with investigators discovering multiple communications originating from the woman's phone—including a resignation letter to her employer and messages to the male associate.

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

A senior police official told media representatives on Tuesday that a rented space had been leased before the victims' disappearance and a freezing appliance had been installed within.

The male siblings extracted the cooling unit from the facility on the very day the mother and daughter went missing, she revealed. And a seven days after, they acquired a second unit.

Officials believe they think this indicates the fatalities were planned in advance.

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

The prosecutor's spokesman—from the legal authorities—stated the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the victims were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a prior examination.

Although the brothers were detained in June, it was only on November 12 that the elder brother admitted to an incident and to storing the victims. He denies any murderous intent, authorities confirmed.

Meanwhile, his brother admitted to a cover-up but denied awareness of a homicide.

The two suspects are presently in pre-trial detention in jails in two Austrian cities, situated at a distance.

In a joint statement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative stated the "alleged double murder... symbolizes the sudden and brutal end of two individuals and reveals a cruel system".

"Females of all ages are being murdered due to the mere fact that they are of the female gender," they went on to say.

"Murders of women are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must combat firmly."