Shocking Discovery: Bodies of Vanished Mum and Daughter Located in Freezers in the Alpine Nation
The deceased of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been found 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 a number of months, were detected on Friday. The freezers were concealed behind a false wall in the flat, located in the city of Innsbruck.
Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were arrested in June. The older man, a colleague of the female victim, stated to police last week that there had been an accident—but disputed intentional killing.
Speaking to journalists previously, a official for the public prosecutor's office stated the two suspects were being detained on "high likelihood of murder".
The identities of those implicated have been withheld by authorities, in compliance with Austrian law.
Their going missing was initially flagged by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Authorities revealed the woman's colleague claimed at the time she had embarked on an prolonged visit with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.
The victim's bank card was then discovered to be utilized overseas repeatedly.
However when officers searched the victim's residence, her mobile phone was found.
A witness also reported overhearing a disturbing sound in the dwelling, and shouts of "mother" on the occasion the two were presumed to have gone missing.
A broader police investigation was started, with officers uncovering multiple communications originating from the mother's device—including a notice of quitting to her company and communications to the male associate.
Officials confirmed a four-figure sum was also transferred to the suspect.
A senior police official stated to the press on recently that a rented space had been rented out before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been installed within.
The male siblings took out the appliance from the storage space on the day the mother and daughter vanished, the official stated. And a week later, they acquired a second unit.
Officials say they think this suggests the deaths were intentionally orchestrated.
"How they died was not identifiable due to the state of decomposition of the victims," Tersch said.
Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the precise timeline is still unclear, but the bodies were carefully placed and were not found during a previous house search.
While the brothers were arrested in June, it was only on 12 November that the suspect admitted to an incident and to concealing the remains. He rejects any plan to cause death, authorities said.
At the same time, his brother admitted to a cover-up but disputed awareness of a killing.
The pair are currently in pre-trial detention in prisons in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.
In a joint statement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative said the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and exposes a cruel system".
"Females of all ages are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are female," they continued.
"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."