Shocking Find: Remains of Missing Mother and Child Located in Freezing Units in Austria
The remains of a mother aged 34 and her 10-year-old daughter have been discovered inside freezers in an flat in the western part of Austria.
The victims, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been missing for several months, were detected on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a drywall partition in the apartment, situated in the Innsbruck area.
A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The older man, a work associate of the female victim, stated to law enforcement last week that there had been an incident—but denied murder.
Informing reporters previously, a official for the legal authorities announced the brothers were being detained on "serious suspicion of murder".
Personal details of those concerned have not been released by law enforcement, in compliance with Austrian law.
The family's disappearance was first reported by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Police revealed the 55-year-old suspect claimed at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her daughter to see her family in the nation of Turkey.
The mother's debit card was then found to have been used abroad several times.
However when investigators entered the woman's home, her mobile phone was located.
Someone also claimed hearing a disturbing sound in the apartment, and screams of "mother" on the day the pair were presumed to have gone missing.
A broader criminal probe was started, with authorities discovering various messages sent from the woman's phone—among them a notice of quitting to her workplace and texts to the 55-year-old suspect.
Authorities stated a four-figure sum was also sent to the individual.
The head of the State Criminal Police Office told media representatives on that day that a rented space had been secured before the vanishing and a freezer had been positioned inside.
The two suspects removed the cooling unit from the unit on the very day the victims vanished, the official stated. And a week later, they purchased another freezer.
Authorities believe they consider this points to the deaths were premeditated.
"How they died could not be determined due to the condition of the victims," the official commented.
Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—stated the exact sequence of events is yet to be determined, but the victims were expertly concealed and were not found during a previous house search.
Although the suspects were arrested in the summer, it was not until the 12th of November that the 55-year-old confessed to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He disputes any intent to kill, authorities stated.
Meanwhile, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a cover-up but rejected involvement in a killing.
The pair are at this time in pre-trial detention in detention centers in two Austrian cities, situated at a distance.
Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister declared the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the abrupt and violent termination of two individuals and exposes a heartless setup".
"Women and girls are being killed due to the simple reality that they are female," they continued.
"Femicides are a profoundly embedded and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."