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The bodies of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been found inside freezing appliances in an apartment in western Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were found on Friday. The freezers were hidden behind a false wall in the apartment, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were taken into custody in the month of June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the female victim, stated to police last week that there had been an accident—but disputed murder.

Speaking to reporters recently, a official for the legal authorities stated the brothers were being detained on "serious suspicion of homicide".

The names of those involved have not been disclosed by authorities, in following Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was initially flagged by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Investigators said the woman's colleague told them at the time she had embarked on an prolonged visit with her daughter to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then found to have been used overseas on multiple occasions.

Yet when police examined the victim's residence, her mobile phone was discovered.

A witness also claimed hearing a loud noise in the apartment, and cries of "mother" on the date the pair were thought to have disappeared.

A wider police investigation was started, with officers uncovering various messages originating from the victim's mobile—including a job termination message to her employer and communications to the male associate.

Law enforcement stated a amount in the thousands was also sent to the suspect.

Katja Tersch informed media representatives on recently that a storage unit had been rented out before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been positioned inside.

The brothers extracted the freezer from the unit on the date the woman and her child went missing, Tersch stated. And a week later, they obtained a second unit.

Officials say they believe this indicates the demise were intentionally orchestrated.

"How they died remains unclear due to the condition of the remains," Tersch stated.

The prosecutor's spokesman—representing the state—said the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the victims were carefully placed and not discovered during a prior examination.

While the brothers were taken into custody in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the elder brother admitted to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He rejects any plan to cause death, investigators confirmed.

Meanwhile, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a cover-up but disputed involvement in a killing.

The brothers are presently in detention before court proceedings in prisons in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister said the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and uncovers a cruel system".

"Females of all ages are being murdered due to the simple reality that they are female," they continued.

"Murders of women are a profoundly embedded and widespread concern that we must fight resolutely."