Bodies of missing mother and child found in freezer in Austria

The bodies of a 34-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter were found in a freezer in an apartment in western Austria.

The remains of a Syrian woman and child who had been missing for months were discovered on Friday. The freezer was hidden behind a drywall partition in an apartment located in the city of Innsbruck.

Two men, a 55-year-old Austrian and his 53-year-old brother, were arrested in June. The Syrian woman’s companion, an elderly man, told police last week there had been an accident but denied murder.

Prosecutors’ spokesman Hansjörg Maier earlier told reporters that the two men had been arrested on “strong suspicion of murder.”

In accordance with Austrian law, police did not release the names of those involved.

The family’s disappearance was first reported on July 25, 2024, by the woman’s cousin living in Germany.

Police said the woman’s colleague, a 55-year-old man, told her at the time that she was on an extended trip with her children to visit her parents in Turkey.

Her bank card was found to have been used overseas on several occasions.

However, while police were searching the woman’s home, a cell phone was found.

A witness testified that on the day the two people were presumed to have disappeared, they heard a loud noise coming from the apartment and someone shouting ‘Mom!’

Police launched a wider investigation and discovered various messages sent from the woman’s mobile phone, including a resignation letter to her employer and messages to a male colleague.

Authorities said a four-figure sum of money was also given to the man.

Katja Tersch, head of the Tyrol State Criminal Police Department, told reporters on Tuesday that the victims had rented a warehouse before their disappearance and installed freezers there.

The brothers removed the freezer from the home the day the woman and her child disappeared, Tusch said. And a week later they bought another freezer.

Authorities said they believe this suggests the death was planned.

“Due to the state of decomposition of the body, the cause of death cannot be determined,” Tusch said.

Officials with the Mayer District Attorney’s Office said the exact sequence of events was not yet known, but the body was expertly hidden and not found in a previous search of the home.

While the brothers were arrested last June, It was not until November 12 that the 55-year-old admitted to the incident and hid the body. He denied intent to kill, authorities said.

Meanwhile, his younger brother admitted to a cover-up but denied any knowledge of the murder.

The two are currently in pre-trial detention in prisons in Innsbruck and Salzburg, approximately 189 km away.

Austria’s Women’s Minister Eva-Maria Holzleitner and Justice Minister Anna Sporrer said in a joint statement: “The double murder charge means that the lives of two people ended suddenly and cruelly and exposes a cruel system.”

“Women and girls are being murdered for the simple fact that they are women and girls,” they said.

“Femicide is a deep-rooted, society-wide problem that we must fight decisively.”