Shocking Discovery: Remains of Missing Mum and Daughter Located in Freezers in Austria
The remains of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been located inside freezing appliances in an apartment in western Austria.
The victims, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were detected on Friday. The freezers were hidden behind a false wall in the apartment, situated in the city of Innsbruck.
Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, told law enforcement last week that there had been an accident—but rejected murder.
Informing journalists previously, a representative for the legal authorities announced the pair were being kept in custody on "high likelihood of murder".
Personal details of those involved have not been released by law enforcement, in following local legislation.
The family's disappearance was first reported by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Investigators said the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had taken an prolonged visit with her daughter to visit her parents in Turkey.
The mother's debit card was then found to have been used overseas on multiple occasions.
Yet when police examined the victim's residence, her smartphone was found.
Someone also reported listening to a commotion in the dwelling, and screams of "mother" on the day the pair were believed to have vanished.
An expanded criminal probe was started, with officers finding various messages originating from the woman's phone—including a job termination message to her workplace and communications to the male associate.
Authorities said a significant cash transfer was also sent to the suspect.
The head of the State Criminal Police Office informed media representatives on recently that a rented space had been leased before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been positioned inside.
The two suspects extracted the freezer from the unit on the date the mother and daughter went missing, she revealed. And a week later, they purchased an additional appliance.
Authorities say they consider this indicates the demise were premeditated.
"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the condition of the bodies," Tersch stated.
Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the precise timeline is yet to be determined, but the victims were professionally hidden and not discovered during a prior examination.
While the brothers were taken into custody in June, it was only on November 12 that the suspect admitted to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He disputes any plan to cause death, authorities confirmed.
Meanwhile, his 53-year-old sibling confessed to a concealment but rejected knowledge of a homicide.
The two suspects are currently in custody awaiting trial in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.
Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative stated the "alleged double murder... represents the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and exposes a brutal scheme".
"Women and girls are being killed due to the mere fact that they are female," they continued.
"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and widespread concern that we must combat firmly."