Disturbing Find: Bodies of Vanished Mum and Daughter Found in Freezers in Austria
The bodies of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezers in an residence in the western part of Austria.
The victims, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were found on Friday. The freezers were hidden behind a false wall in the apartment, located in the Innsbruck area.
A pair of males, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the female victim, told law enforcement last week that there had been an incident—but denied intentional killing.
Addressing journalists recently, a spokesman for the state prosecutor stated the brothers were being held on "high likelihood of intentional killing".
The names of those implicated have been withheld by police, in compliance with national regulations.
The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Authorities revealed the woman's colleague informed them at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her child to see her family in the nation of Turkey.
The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized overseas on multiple occasions.
Yet when investigators entered the victim's residence, her mobile phone was located.
A witness also stated hearing a disturbing sound in the apartment, and shouts of "mother" on the day the two were presumed to have gone missing.
A wider criminal probe was launched, with investigators discovering various messages transmitted via the woman's phone—such as a resignation letter to her employer and communications to the male associate.
Authorities stated a four-figure sum was also transferred to the man.
The head of the State Criminal Police Office informed reporters on Tuesday that a storage unit had been secured before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been placed there.
The brothers took out the appliance from the facility on the date the mother and daughter vanished, the official revealed. And a shortly afterward, they acquired an additional appliance.
Investigators say they think this indicates the demise were planned in advance.
"The reason for their demise was not identifiable due to the advanced decay of the victims," the official commented.
The prosecutor's spokesman—from the legal authorities—noted the precise timeline is not yet known, but the bodies were carefully placed and went unnoticed during a previous house search.
Although the brothers were taken into custody in the summer, it was not until the 12th of November that the elder brother acknowledged an incident and to concealing the remains. He rejects any plan to cause death, authorities said.
In a related development, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but denied awareness of a killing.
The two suspects are presently in detention before court proceedings in prisons in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.
Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "alleged double murder... represents the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and uncovers a cruel system".
"Women and girls are being killed due to the mere fact that they are of the female gender," they added.
"Murders of women are a strongly established and widespread concern that we must address decisively."