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The remains of a 34-year-old woman 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 child, who had been unaccounted for for a number of months, were found on the end of last week. The cooling units were placed behind a plasterboard wall in the apartment, located in the Innsbruck area.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were arrested in June. The elder brother, a work associate of the female victim, told police last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but denied intentional killing.

Informing reporters previously, a spokesman for the legal authorities announced the brothers were being held on "strong suspicion of homicide".

The identities of those implicated have not been disclosed by authorities, in compliance with national regulations.

The vanishing of the mother and child was originally brought to light by the female victim's relative, who is based in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Investigators stated the 55-year-old suspect informed them at the time she had embarked on an long journey with her daughter to visit her parents in Turkey.

Her bank card was then noted as being active abroad repeatedly.

However when officers searched the mother's apartment, her cellphone was found.

Someone also claimed hearing a disturbing sound in the flat, and shouts of "mother" on the day the pair were presumed to have gone missing.

An expanded official inquiry was initiated, with investigators discovering multiple communications sent from the woman's phone—including a notice of quitting to her employer and communications to the male associate.

Law enforcement said a amount in the thousands was also sent to the man.

Katja Tersch informed media representatives on that day that a storage facility had been secured before the victims' disappearance and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The two suspects removed the freezer from the storage space on the date the woman and her child vanished, Tersch revealed. And a shortly afterward, they acquired a second unit.

Authorities say they think this points to the demise were intentionally orchestrated.

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

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—stated the exact sequence of events is yet to be determined, but the bodies were expertly concealed and not discovered during a prior examination.

While the men were taken into custody in June, it was only on the 12th of November that the 55-year-old admitted to an event and to hiding the bodies. He denies any intent to kill, authorities said.

Meanwhile, his younger brother admitted to a attempt to hide evidence but disputed awareness of a killing.

The pair are at this time in pre-trial detention in detention centers in Innsbruck and Salzburg, around 117 miles (189km) apart.

In a joint statement, the nation's official for women's affairs and Justice Minister said the "reported homicide of mother and child... symbolizes the abrupt and violent termination of a mother and child and reveals a heartless setup".

"Women and girls are being killed due to the sole reason that they are female," they went on to say.

"Gender-based killings are a deeply rooted and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."