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The bodies of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezers in an residence in western Austria.

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were detected on the end of last week. The cooling units were concealed behind a drywall partition in the flat, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told authorities last week that there had been an incident—but denied intentional killing.

Informing journalists recently, a representative for the public prosecutor's office said the pair were being kept in custody on "high likelihood of homicide".

The identities of those concerned have been withheld by law enforcement, in accordance with local legislation.

The family's disappearance was originally brought to light by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Investigators revealed the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had embarked on an extended trip with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then found to have been used abroad repeatedly.

Yet when police examined the mother's apartment, her smartphone was located.

A witness also claimed listening to a commotion in the apartment, and screams of "mama" on the day the pair were thought to have disappeared.

A broader criminal probe was started, with investigators uncovering several texts transmitted via the victim's mobile—including a notice of quitting to her company and messages to the male colleague.

Law enforcement stated a significant cash transfer was also moved to the individual.

A senior police official stated to the press on Tuesday that a storage facility had been leased before the vanishing and a freezer had been placed there.

The two suspects took out the cooling unit from the storage space on the date the mother and daughter disappeared, Tersch said. And a seven days after, they acquired another freezer.

Investigators say they think this indicates the demise were planned in advance.

"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the bodies," she commented.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—said the specific order of occurrences is not yet known, but the remains were expertly concealed and went unnoticed during a earlier inspection.

While the men were taken into custody in the summer, it was not until the 12th of November that the 55-year-old acknowledged an occurrence and to storing the victims. He disputes any murderous intent, authorities confirmed.

In a related development, his younger brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but rejected awareness of a murder.

The brothers are currently in pre-trial detention in prisons in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister stated the "alleged double murder... represents the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and exposes a cruel system".

"Women and girls are being killed due to the sole reason that they are female," they added.

"Murders of women are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must fight resolutely."