A mother and daughter missing for 16 months were found dead in a freezer in Innsbruck. Two brothers were arrested and charged with double homicide.

A chilling discovery has put an end to a mystery that had lasted over a year and a half in Innsbruck, in the Austrian Tyrol. The bodies of a 34-year-old woman of Syrian origin and her 10-year-old daughter, missing since July 2024, were found inside large freezers hidden behind a plasterboard wall in an apartment in the city. Two Austrian brothers, aged 55 and 53, had already been detained for months for their disappearance and are now accused of double homicide.

The discovery after 16 months of investigation

The breakthrough came in November 2025, after a long and thorough investigation conducted by the Tyrolean Criminal Police and coordinated by the Innsbruck Public Prosecutor's Office. During a press conference, authorities confirmed that the bodies had been hidden inside large freezers located in the remotest part of a storage room, concealed by a specially constructed plasterboard partition.

The discovery was made possible thanks to new technical investigations and the reconstruction of the suspicious movements of the two brothers, who had attracted the attention of investigators since the summer of 2024.

The disappearance and the first suspicions

The woman and child had been reported missing after a cousin, unable to contact them, filed a report. The two were supposed to be returning from a trip to Germany, but had since disappeared.

In the months that followed, significant anomalies emerged: suspicious use of the woman's debit card, including abroad; allegedly contradictory statements from a 55-year-old colleague with whom the woman was allegedly having an affair; and transactions on her bank account that were deemed anomalous.

The main suspicion fell on the man, a colleague of the victim, who claimed that the woman and her daughter had left on a long trip. However, bank checks revealed that the card had been used by his 53-year-old brother, the owner of the apartment where the stolen goods were later found.

The arrested brothers admit to concealment, deny murder

The two men were arrested in June 2025 and held in pre-trial detention in Innsbruck and Salzburg. After the bodies were discovered, their situation worsened. During questioning, the brothers admitted to hiding the bodies, but vehemently denied killing the mother and daughter.

Their version claims the two died in an "accident," without providing any clear details about what happened. Investigators, however, are not ruling out any hypotheses.

Investigators are now working on a complete reconstruction of the chronology between the trip to Düsseldorf, the disappearance, and the moment the bodies were placed in the freezers, while the brothers remain in prison charged with double homicide and concealment of a corpse. The Prosecutor's Office is maintaining the utmost secrecy regarding the motive, which remains unclear.

Difficulties in identifying the cause of death

The long period spent in the cold storage room has compromised the state of preservation of the bodies, making it difficult to determine the precise cause of death. Forensic pathologists are working to detect any signs of violence, the presence of toxic substances, or other evidence useful in reconstructing the victims' final moments.

The autopsy will be crucial in determining the responsibilities of the two brothers and clarifying whether their version of the accident has any basis.

A hideaway built to last

According to investigators, the structure where the freezers were found was designed to make it extremely difficult to locate the bodies. The plasterboard walls and remote location of the storage room clearly indicate—according to police—a deliberate attempt to hide the evidence for as long as possible.