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The remains of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezing appliances in an flat in western Austria.

The victims, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been missing for several months, were detected on Friday. The cooling units were hidden behind a plasterboard wall in the dwelling, situated in the Innsbruck area.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were taken into custody in the month of June. The older man, a colleague of the female victim, informed police last week that there had been an incident—but rejected homicide.

Speaking to the media earlier, a spokesman for the legal authorities announced the pair were being held on "strong suspicion of homicide".

Personal details of those involved have been withheld by police, in accordance with Austrian law.

The family's disappearance 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 male associate informed them at the time she had embarked on an prolonged visit with her child to travel to her relatives in the nation of Turkey.

Her bank card was then discovered to be utilized abroad repeatedly.

Yet when investigators entered the mother's apartment, her cellphone was found.

An individual also reported listening to a disturbing sound in the flat, and cries of "mama" on the day the pair were believed to have vanished.

A wider official inquiry was launched, with authorities uncovering multiple communications originating from the mother's device—including a resignation letter to her workplace and texts to the male colleague.

Authorities said a significant cash transfer was also transferred to the individual.

Katja Tersch told media representatives on recently that a storage facility had been leased before the vanishing and a freezing appliance had been placed there.

The two suspects removed the freezer from the storage space on the very day the woman and her child went missing, Tersch revealed. And a seven days after, they acquired an additional appliance.

Officials say they believe this points to the deaths were planned in advance.

"The cause of death could not be determined due to the state of decomposition of the bodies," she commented.

A legal representative—representing the state—stated the specific order of occurrences is yet to be determined, but the remains were carefully placed and not discovered during a previous house search.

Although the suspects were arrested in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the 55-year-old admitted to an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He denies any plan to cause death, authorities confirmed.

Meanwhile, his brother confessed to a cover-up but disputed knowledge of a killing.

The brothers are at this time in custody awaiting trial in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Through a combined announcement, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister stated the "suspected killing of two... symbolizes the abrupt and violent termination of two individuals and exposes a heartless setup".

"Females of all ages are being killed due to the mere fact that they are female," they added.

"Murders of women are a deeply rooted and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."