Nearly a week after Israeli mother and daughter Mali and Liel Yahalomi disappeared in Vienna, new evidence has emerged showing the pair leaving their apartment on their own and carrying their belongings, as investigators increasingly examine the possibility that they traveled onward from the Austrian capital.

Security camera footage reviewed by investigators shows 50-year-old Mali and her 23-year-old daughter Liel leaving the Vienna apartment where they had been staying. No other person was seen accompanying them.

According to a report by i24NEWS, investigators who subsequently searched the apartment determined that the two women had taken their belongings with them when they left — a potentially significant detail as authorities attempt to reconstruct their movements before all contact with them was lost.

Investigators have also established that the last known location signal from the women’s phones was recorded Saturday morning in the area of Vienna’s central train station, approximately a 20-minute walk from their accommodations.

Authorities are now reviewing surveillance footage from around the station in an effort to determine where Mali and Liel went next. One possibility being investigated is that the two boarded a train and traveled to another destination.

Based on the latest findings, investigators increasingly believe the mother and daughter are no longer in Vienna. Authorities are also examining the possibility that they left Austria entirely and traveled to another European country, prompting the search to be expanded beyond Austria’s borders.

The developments add significant new information to an investigation that has taken a dramatic turn in recent days and is now being handled on the Israeli side by Israel Police’s Lahav 433 national crime unit. A court has imposed a gag order on details of the investigation.

“The working assumption is that they are alive,” a senior source involved in the investigation told Channel 12, stressing that every possibility remains under examination. “We are checking whether this entire event was planned — meaning whether the mother and daughter planned an escape from the country — or whether this was some kind of criminal incident that we do not know about.”

Authorities are also examining whether there could be a nationalistic motive.

“Nothing has been ruled out. Everything is being checked. There are a lot of question marks,” the source said.

The investigation is being conducted jointly with Vienna Police. Channel 13 previously reported that Austrian law-enforcement officials believe the two women may no longer be inside Austria, while Austrian outlet Heute reported that the Mossad is assisting efforts to locate them, though that report has not been officially confirmed.

The family has strongly pushed back against suggestions that investigators may already have reached conclusions about why Mali and Liel disappeared. After providing Lahav 433 investigators with a detailed statement and all information in their possession, the family said it has information that substantially contradicts some claims surrounding the investigation and demanded that authorities continue examining the possibility of a nationalistically motivated incident.

Mali’s older brother, Ronen Yahalomi, told Ynet that the trip to Europe had been arranged by Liel as a surprise for her mother, who had celebrated her birthday just days earlier. Their itinerary included Prague and Vienna, with Liel arranging the flights, transportation and other details.

Ronen traveled to Austria following their disappearance and has remained in close contact with Austrian authorities, Israeli Foreign Ministry representatives and Vienna’s Jewish community.

Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy has convened a special situation assessment focused on locating the two women and ordered that all necessary resources and capabilities be made available to the investigation.

Despite the new surveillance footage and phone-location information, the central mystery remains unresolved: What happened to Mali and Liel after they left their apartment, reached the area of Vienna’s central train station and apparently vanished without a trace?

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)