Shocking Find: Remains of Vanished Mother and Child Located in Freezing Units in the Alpine Nation
The remains of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezers in an flat in western Austria.
The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were detected on Friday. The cooling units were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the flat, situated in the Innsbruck area.
A pair of males, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, informed police last week that there had been an accident—but disputed murder.
Addressing the media previously, a representative for the state prosecutor said the two suspects were being held on "high likelihood of intentional killing".
The identities of those concerned have been withheld by law enforcement, in compliance with Austrian law.
Their going missing was originally brought to light by the cousin of the mother, who is based in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Police revealed the woman's colleague told them at the time she had taken an extended trip with her child to travel to her relatives in Turkey.
The victim's bank card was then noted as being active in foreign locations on multiple occasions.
However when police entered the victim's residence, her mobile phone was found.
An individual also reported listening to a disturbing sound in the flat, and screams of "mama" on the date the two were presumed to have gone missing.
A broader official inquiry was initiated, with officers uncovering various messages sent from the woman's phone—among them a job termination message to her employer and texts to the male associate.
Law enforcement said a amount in the thousands was also moved to the individual.
The head of the State Criminal Police Office told reporters on Tuesday that a storage facility had been rented out before the vanishing and a freezer had been placed there.
The two suspects extracted the freezer from the facility on the very day the victims vanished, she stated. And a week later, they purchased a second unit.
Investigators believe they consider this suggests the demise were premeditated.
"The reason for their demise could not be determined due to the advanced decay of the bodies," Tersch commented.
A legal representative—representing the state—stated the precise timeline is yet to be determined, but the bodies were expertly concealed and were not found during a previous house search.
While the men were detained in the summer, it was only on the 12th of November that the elder brother admitted to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He rejects any intent to kill, officials confirmed.
At the same time, his younger brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but disputed knowledge of a murder.
The two suspects are presently in detention before court proceedings in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, around 117 miles (189km) apart.
In a joint statement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister declared the "reported homicide of mother and child... represents the abrupt and violent termination of two human lives and uncovers a brutal scheme".
"Female individuals are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are women and girls," they went on to say.
"Femicides are a profoundly embedded and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."
