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The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been located inside freezing appliances in an flat in western Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were found on the end of last week. The freezers were hidden behind a false wall in the flat, located in the city of Innsbruck.

Two individuals, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were taken into custody in the month of June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, informed law enforcement last week that there had been an incident—but rejected murder.

Addressing the media earlier, a spokesman for the state prosecutor announced the pair were being held on "strong suspicion of homicide".

Personal details of those involved have been withheld by authorities, in following Austrian law.

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the woman's cousin, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Investigators said the 55-year-old suspect claimed at the time she had taken an extended trip with her daughter to travel to her relatives in Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then discovered to be utilized overseas repeatedly.

Yet when investigators searched the mother's apartment, her mobile phone was located.

Someone also reported listening to a loud noise in the apartment, and screams of "mama" on the day the pair were thought to have disappeared.

An expanded official inquiry was started, with authorities uncovering multiple communications sent from the mother's device—including a resignation letter to her employer and texts to the 55-year-old suspect.

Law enforcement confirmed a four-figure sum was also moved to the individual.

Katja Tersch stated to the press 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 appliance from the unit on the day the victims went missing, the official revealed. And a week later, they acquired a second unit.

Officials state they consider this indicates the fatalities were planned in advance.

"The reason for their demise remains unclear due to the state of decomposition of the remains," the official stated.

A legal representative—of the public prosecutor's office—said the specific order of occurrences is still unclear, but the remains were carefully placed and were not found during a prior examination.

While the men were arrested in June, it was only on 12 November that the 55-year-old admitted to an occurrence and to storing the victims. He denies any murderous intent, authorities stated.

Meanwhile, his younger brother acknowledged a concealment but denied knowledge of a killing.

The two suspects are presently in pre-trial detention in prisons in Innsbruck and Salzburg, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

Via a shared communication, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative said the "suspected killing of two... symbolizes the swift and cruel conclusion of a mother and child and uncovers a heartless setup".

"Females of all ages are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are women and girls," they continued.

"Murders of women are a strongly established and society-wide problem that we must combat firmly."