Disturbing Find: Bodies of Vanished Mother and Child Located in Freezers in the Alpine Nation
The remains of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezing appliances in an flat in western Austria.
The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for several months, were found on the end of last week. The cooling units were placed behind a false wall in the dwelling, located in the Innsbruck area.
Two men, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in the month of June. The elder brother, a colleague of the female victim, told police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but denied intentional killing.
Informing journalists earlier, a representative for the legal authorities stated the brothers were being kept in custody on "serious suspicion of murder".
The identities of those concerned have not been released by law enforcement, in following national regulations.
The vanishing of the mother and child was initially flagged by the female victim's relative, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Authorities revealed the male associate told them at the time she had taken an long journey with her daughter to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.
Her bank card was then found to have been used in foreign locations on multiple occasions.
Yet when investigators searched the woman's home, her cellphone was found.
A witness also claimed listening to a loud noise in the flat, and shouts of "mother" on the date the pair were believed to have vanished.
An expanded police investigation was started, with officers finding multiple communications originating from the woman's phone—such as a notice of quitting to her company and messages to the 55-year-old suspect.
Law enforcement said a significant cash transfer was also sent to the individual.
A senior police official stated to reporters on recently that a storage unit had been secured before the mother and child went missing and a freezer had been positioned inside.
The brothers extracted the cooling unit from the facility on the date the mother and daughter disappeared, she said. And a week later, they purchased another freezer.
Officials believe they consider this suggests the demise were intentionally orchestrated.
"How they died could not be determined due to the state of decomposition of the remains," Tersch said.
A legal representative—representing the state—said the precise timeline is still unclear, but the bodies were carefully placed and were not found during a earlier inspection.
While the suspects were detained in the summer, it was only on November 12 that the 55-year-old acknowledged an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He denies any plan to cause death, authorities said.
At the same time, his brother confessed to a cover-up but rejected knowledge of a homicide.
The two suspects are presently in custody awaiting trial in jails in two Austrian cities, around 117 miles (189km) apart.
Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and uncovers a brutal scheme".
"Women and girls are being killed due to the simple reality that they are of the female gender," they continued.
"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must combat firmly."