Tragic Find: Bodies of Missing Mother and Child Located in Freezing Units in Austria
The deceased of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been discovered inside freezing appliances in an flat in the western part of Austria.
The deceased, a Syrian woman and her daughter, who had been missing for several months, were uncovered on the end of last week. The freezers were placed behind a false wall in the flat, located in the Innsbruck area.
Two individuals, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were arrested in June. The 55-year-old, a colleague of the female victim, stated to police last week that there had been an incident—but rejected intentional killing.
Addressing reporters previously, a representative for the state prosecutor said the brothers were being detained on "strong suspicion of murder".
The names of those concerned have not been released by law enforcement, in compliance with national regulations.
Their going missing was initially flagged by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.
Police revealed the male associate informed them at the time she had gone on an prolonged visit with her child to visit her parents in the nation of Turkey.
The mother's debit card was then discovered to be utilized overseas several times.
Yet when police entered the woman's home, her cellphone was found.
An individual also reported hearing a loud noise in the apartment, and cries of "mother" on the occasion the mother and child were presumed to have gone missing.
A wider criminal probe was initiated, with authorities uncovering multiple communications transmitted via the mother's device—including a job termination message to her workplace and communications to the 55-year-old suspect.
Law enforcement said a four-figure sum was also transferred to the individual.
The head of the State Criminal Police Office informed reporters on that day that a storage unit had been rented out before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been placed there.
The brothers took out the cooling unit from the unit on the day the woman and her child disappeared, Tersch revealed. And a seven days after, they acquired a second unit.
Investigators state they think this suggests the demise were planned in advance.
"How they died could not be determined due to the advanced decay of the victims," Tersch commented.
The prosecutor's spokesman—of the public prosecutor's office—noted the specific order of occurrences is yet to be determined, but the remains were professionally hidden and were not found during a earlier inspection.
While the men were detained in June, it was only on November 12 that the elder brother acknowledged an event and to hiding the bodies. He denies any intent to kill, investigators confirmed.
Meanwhile, his younger brother acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but disputed involvement in a murder.
The brothers are presently in custody awaiting trial in prisons in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.
Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister said the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of a mother and child and uncovers a cruel system".
"Females of all ages are being killed due to the mere fact that they are of the female gender," they continued.
"Gender-based killings are a profoundly embedded and widespread concern that we must fight resolutely."
