Tragic Unearthing: Bodies of Vanished Mum and Daughter Located in Freezers in Austria

Placeholder image Related image

The remains of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter have been discovered inside freezers in an residence in the western part of Austria.

The deceased, a Syrian woman and her child, who had been missing for a number of months, were detected on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, situated in the Innsbruck area.

A pair of males, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were taken into custody in June. The older man, a colleague of the Syrian woman, told authorities last week that there had been an accident—but rejected intentional killing.

Informing journalists recently, a official for the legal authorities stated the pair were being kept in custody on "serious suspicion of homicide".

The names of those implicated have been withheld by police, in following Austrian law.

The family's disappearance was initially flagged by the woman's cousin, who lives in Germany, on 25 July 2024.

Police stated the 55-year-old suspect told them at the time she had taken an extended trip with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized abroad several times.

Yet when police searched the mother's apartment, her cellphone was located.

A witness also stated overhearing a commotion in the flat, and cries of "mother" on the occasion the two were believed to have vanished.

An expanded criminal probe was launched, with officers uncovering multiple communications transmitted via the woman's phone—such as a notice of quitting to her company and messages to the male associate.

Authorities confirmed a significant cash transfer was also sent to the suspect.

Placeholder image Related image

The head of the State Criminal Police Office told the press on recently that a storage facility had been leased before the victims' disappearance and a freezer had been installed within.

The two suspects extracted the cooling unit from the storage space on the very day the woman and her child disappeared, Tersch stated. And a shortly afterward, they purchased an additional appliance.

Investigators believe they believe this points to the fatalities were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise could not be determined due to the advanced decay of the bodies," she commented.

A legal representative—representing the state—noted the exact sequence of events is not yet known, but the victims were professionally hidden and went unnoticed during a previous house search.

Although the brothers were arrested in June, it was only on the 12th of November that the elder brother acknowledged an occurrence and to concealing the remains. He disputes any intent to kill, officials confirmed.

At the same time, his brother acknowledged a concealment but disputed awareness of a killing.

The pair are presently in detention before court proceedings in prisons in separate locations, situated at a distance.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and the top legal representative declared the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and exposes a cruel system".

"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the sole reason that they are female," they went on to say.

"Murders of women are a strongly established and widespread concern that we must fight resolutely."

Brianna Mooney
Brianna Mooney

A space science journalist with a background in astrophysics, passionate about making cosmic phenomena accessible to all readers.