Greece's ambassador to Brazil was murdered in a "crime of passion" plot hatched by his Brazilian wife and her police officer lover, who confessed to the crime, officials said Friday.

The envoy, Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was murdered on Monday by the officer, Sergio Gomez Moreira, the chief of Rio's homicide division, Evaristo Pontes Magalhaes, told a news conference.

Amiridis' charred body was found Thursday in Rio in his burned-out rental car, a day after his wife, Francoise de Souza Oliveira, declared him missing.