Tragic Discovery: Bodies of Missing Mother and Child Found in Freezing Units in Austria
The bodies of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been located inside freezers in an apartment in western Austria.
The deceased, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been unaccounted for for several months, were uncovered on the end of last week. The freezers were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the flat, situated in the Innsbruck area.
Two individuals, a Austrian man, 55 and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in the month of June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the female victim, informed police last week that there had been an incident—but denied intentional killing.
Speaking to the media recently, a spokesman for the state prosecutor said the two suspects were being detained on "serious suspicion of murder".
The names of those implicated have not been released by police, in following Austrian law.
The family's disappearance was originally brought to light by the female victim's relative, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Police said the male associate informed them at the time she had embarked on an extended trip with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.
Her bank card was then noted as being active abroad repeatedly.
However when officers examined the mother's apartment, her cellphone was located.
A witness also claimed hearing a disturbing sound in the flat, and screams of "mama" on the date the two were believed to have vanished.
A wider official inquiry was started, with authorities uncovering various messages transmitted via the woman's phone—among them a job termination message to her workplace and texts to the male colleague.
Authorities said a amount in the thousands was also transferred to the man.
Katja Tersch informed the press on recently that a rented space had been rented out before the vanishing and a freezer had been installed within.
The two suspects extracted the appliance from the facility on the day the mother and daughter vanished, the official revealed. And a seven days after, they purchased an additional appliance.
Investigators believe they consider this indicates the deaths were intentionally orchestrated.
"How they died remains unclear due to the condition of the victims," Tersch said.
Mayr—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the exact sequence of events is yet to be determined, but the remains were professionally hidden and were not found during a earlier inspection.
Although the brothers were detained in the summer, it was only on 12 November that the suspect admitted to an incident and to storing the victims. He denies any intent to kill, officials stated.
In a related development, his brother acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but rejected knowledge of a homicide.
The brothers are presently in custody awaiting trial in prisons in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.
Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister declared the "suspected killing of two... symbolizes the sudden and brutal end of two human lives and reveals a cruel system".
"Female individuals are being murdered due to the sole reason that they are women and girls," they added.
"Femicides are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must fight resolutely."
