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The bodies of a mother aged 34 and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezers in an residence in western Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for several months, were detected on the end of last week. The freezers were concealed behind a false wall in the apartment, located in the Innsbruck area.

Two individuals, a Austrian man, 55 and his brother aged 53, were detained in June. The older man, a work associate of the female victim, informed authorities last week that there had been an incident—but disputed intentional killing.

Addressing the media recently, a official for the legal authorities announced the brothers were being held on "serious suspicion of murder".

The identities of those involved have not been disclosed by police, in accordance with Austrian law.

The vanishing of the mother and child was first reported by the woman's cousin, who lives in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Police revealed the woman's colleague informed them at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her daughter to see her family in the nation of Turkey.

The mother's debit card was then found to have been used in foreign locations on multiple occasions.

Yet when investigators entered the victim's residence, her smartphone was located.

Someone also stated overhearing a disturbing sound in the dwelling, and shouts of "mum" on the day the mother and child were believed to have vanished.

A broader official inquiry was initiated, with authorities uncovering multiple communications sent from the mother's device—including a resignation letter to her employer and communications to the male associate.

Law enforcement stated a four-figure sum was also sent to the suspect.

A senior police official informed media representatives on Tuesday that a storage facility had been leased before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been placed there.

The two suspects extracted the appliance from the unit on the date the victims vanished, she said. And a shortly afterward, they acquired another freezer.

Authorities say they believe this indicates the demise were planned in advance.

"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the advanced decay of the bodies," Tersch said.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—stated the precise timeline is yet to be determined, but the remains were professionally hidden and not discovered during a prior examination.

Although the brothers were detained in the summer, it was only on November 12 that the 55-year-old admitted to an incident and to concealing the remains. He rejects any plan to cause death, investigators said.

In a related development, his brother acknowledged a attempt to hide evidence but rejected awareness of a killing.

The pair are currently in detention before court proceedings 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 declared the "suspected killing of two... represents the sudden and brutal end of a mother and child and reveals a cruel system".

"Women and girls are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are women and girls," they went on to say.

"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and issue affecting all of society that we must fight resolutely."