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The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been discovered inside freezers in an apartment in western Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were found on the end of last week. The cooling units were concealed behind a plasterboard wall in the flat, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the female victim, stated to authorities last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed murder.

Speaking to reporters previously, a spokesman for the legal authorities announced the pair were being held on "serious suspicion of murder".

The names of those implicated have been withheld by law enforcement, in accordance with Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was first reported by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Police revealed the male associate informed them at the time she had gone on an long journey with her child to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then noted as being active in foreign locations several times.

But when police searched the woman's home, her mobile phone was located.

Someone also claimed overhearing a commotion in the flat, and screams of "mama" on the date the mother and child were believed to have vanished.

A wider official inquiry was initiated, with authorities uncovering several texts originating from the victim's mobile—including a resignation letter to her employer and texts to the 55-year-old suspect.

Officials confirmed a four-figure sum was also sent to the man.

Katja Tersch informed media representatives on recently that a storage unit had been leased before the mother and child went missing and a cooling unit had been placed there.

The male siblings extracted the freezer from the unit on the date the mother and daughter vanished, Tersch stated. And a shortly afterward, they purchased a second unit.

Authorities state they consider this points to the deaths were intentionally orchestrated.

"The reason for their demise remains unclear due to the condition of the victims," the official commented.

Mayr—representing the state—noted the specific order of occurrences is yet to be determined, but the bodies were carefully placed and not discovered during a earlier inspection.

While the brothers were arrested in the summer, it was only on the 12th of November that the suspect confessed to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He rejects any intent to kill, investigators confirmed.

At the same time, his younger brother confessed to a attempt to hide evidence but rejected involvement in a murder.

The two suspects are presently in custody awaiting trial in prisons in two Austrian cities, situated at a distance.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister stated the "suspected killing of two... represents the swift and cruel conclusion of a mother and child and exposes a cruel system".

"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are female," they continued.

"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."