Disturbing Discovery: Bodies of Vanished Mum and Daughter Located in Freezers in the Alpine Nation
The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezers in an residence in western Austria.
The victims, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were found on Friday. The cooling units were hidden behind a plasterboard wall in the flat, situated in the city of Innsbruck.
Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The elder brother, a colleague of the Syrian woman, informed authorities last week that there had been an incident—but denied homicide.
Informing journalists recently, a representative for the state prosecutor announced the brothers were being detained on "high likelihood of intentional killing".
The identities of those involved have been withheld by police, in following local legislation.
Their going missing was initially flagged by the woman's cousin, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.
Police said the woman's colleague informed them at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her child to see her family in the nation of Turkey.
Her bank card was then found to have been used overseas on multiple occasions.
However when officers entered the mother's apartment, her cellphone was found.
Someone also reported hearing a commotion in the flat, and screams of "mother" on the day the pair were presumed to have gone missing.
A wider official inquiry was initiated, with investigators discovering various messages originating from the mother's device—including a notice of quitting to her employer and messages to the 55-year-old suspect.
Law enforcement said a amount in the thousands was also moved to the suspect.
Katja Tersch told reporters on recently that a storage unit had been secured before the vanishing and a freezing appliance had been placed there.
The male siblings took out the appliance from the unit on the day the woman and her child disappeared, she revealed. And a shortly afterward, they obtained an additional appliance.
Officials say they think this points to the fatalities were premeditated.
"The reason for their demise was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the victims," she stated.
The prosecutor's spokesman—of the public prosecutor's office—stated the precise timeline is still unclear, but the remains were professionally hidden and were not found during a earlier inspection.
Although the men were detained in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the elder brother confessed to an occurrence and to storing the victims. He rejects any plan to cause death, officials confirmed.
In a related development, his brother confessed to a attempt to hide evidence but rejected involvement in a killing.
The two suspects are currently in detention before court proceedings in jails in separate locations, situated at a distance.
Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister stated the "alleged double murder... represents the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and reveals a cruel system".
"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the sole reason that they are female," they went on to say.
"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must fight resolutely."