Shocking Discovery: Bodies of Missing Mother and Child Found in Freezers in Austria

Placeholder image Related image

The bodies of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezers in an residence in western Austria.

The deceased, a woman from Syria and her daughter, who had been missing for a number of months, were detected on the end of last week. The cooling units were hidden behind a drywall partition in the dwelling, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were detained in June. The older man, a colleague of the Syrian woman, informed police last week that there had been an incident—but denied homicide.

Speaking to the media earlier, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said the two suspects were being detained on "strong suspicion of homicide".

The names of those involved have been withheld by authorities, in compliance with Austrian law.

The family's disappearance was first reported by the cousin of the mother, who resides in Germany, on the 25th of July last year.

Authorities stated the woman's colleague informed them at the time she had taken 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 abroad on multiple occasions.

But when officers examined the victim's residence, her smartphone was located.

Someone also stated listening to a loud noise in the flat, and shouts of "mama" on the day the two were believed to have vanished.

A wider criminal probe was initiated, with investigators finding several texts transmitted via the woman's phone—such as a resignation letter to her company and messages to the male colleague.

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

Placeholder image Related image

The head of the State Criminal Police Office stated to the press on recently that a storage facility had been rented out before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been installed within.

The male siblings extracted the appliance from the facility on the very day the mother and daughter vanished, Tersch stated. And a seven days after, they purchased a second unit.

Officials say they consider this suggests the deaths were premeditated.

"The reason for their demise could not be determined due to the state of decomposition of the remains," the official said.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—said the precise timeline is still unclear, but the victims were expertly concealed and not discovered during a earlier inspection.

Although the men were taken into custody in the summer, it was only on the 12th of November that the 55-year-old confessed to an event and to storing the victims. He denies any intent to kill, authorities said.

Meanwhile, his 53-year-old sibling admitted to a cover-up but rejected knowledge of a homicide.

The pair are presently in detention before court proceedings in jails in separate locations, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Via a shared communication, Austria's Minister for Women and Justice Minister stated the "reported homicide of mother and child... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two individuals and exposes a heartless setup".

"Females of all ages are falling victim to homicide due to the mere fact that they are of the female gender," they continued.

"Murders of women are a deeply rooted and issue affecting all of society that we must address decisively."

Timothy Guerra
Timothy Guerra

Lena is a cybersecurity specialist with over a decade of experience in network infrastructure and digital innovation.