Tragic Discovery: Remains of Vanished Mum and Daughter Located in Freezers in Austria
The bodies of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been found inside freezing appliances in an apartment in the western part of Austria.
The deceased, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were found on the end of last week. The freezers were hidden behind a false wall in the flat, situated in the city of Innsbruck.
Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in June. The elder brother, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told law enforcement last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but rejected intentional killing.
Informing the media recently, a spokesman for the legal authorities announced the pair were being held on "high likelihood of murder".
The identities of those implicated have been withheld by police, in compliance with Austrian law.
The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Police said the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her child to see her family in the nation of Turkey.
The victim's bank card was then noted as being active overseas on multiple occasions.
Yet when police entered the victim's residence, her smartphone was located.
A witness also claimed overhearing a loud noise in the dwelling, and screams of "mama" on the day the pair were believed to have vanished.
An expanded criminal probe was initiated, with investigators discovering various messages transmitted via the mother's device—including a job termination message to her employer and messages to the male colleague.
Authorities stated a amount in the thousands was also sent to the suspect.
A senior police official told the press on recently that a storage unit had been rented out before the mother and child went missing and a freezer had been placed there.
The brothers extracted the freezer from the unit on the very day the mother and daughter disappeared, Tersch stated. And a seven days after, they acquired a second unit.
Officials say they consider this suggests the fatalities were planned in advance.
"The cause of death could not be determined due to the state of decomposition of the victims," she stated.
Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the specific order of occurrences is not yet known, but the remains were professionally hidden and were not found during a previous house search.
Although the suspects were detained in June, it was only on 12 November that the suspect confessed to an incident and to hiding the bodies. He disputes any intent to kill, officials confirmed.
Meanwhile, his younger brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but denied knowledge of a murder.
The pair are presently in detention before court proceedings in prisons in separate locations, situated at a distance.
Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative said the "suspected killing of two... represents the abrupt and violent termination of two individuals and reveals a brutal scheme".
"Women and girls are being murdered due to the mere fact that they are of the female gender," they added.
"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must combat firmly."
