It was the stuff for convoluted telenovela twists and plots or material for tabloid gossip and scandals but it proved to be a slice of real-life drama involving an ambassador, his wife, and his lover in a bizarre and sordid crime.
Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, Greece's Ambassador to Brazil was last seen on Monday and was reported missing by his Brazilian wife Francoise on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Brazilian police officers have recovered the diplomat's torched car- and inside it is a burnt body, they believe to be Amiridis.
The strange twist to it all is police officials' belief that Amiridis was murdered by his wife's police officer-lover, and supposedly under her own orders. Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho, 29, had confessed to police investigator Evaristo Portes Magalhaes that he murdered Amaridis but swore he did it out of self-defense.
Reports from Globo TV said that investigators believe the diplomat's murder was clearly a case of a premeditated crime planned by both Francoise and her lover Filho, even as Francoise denied any involvement in the murder of her husband. She insisted that she was not at home during the time of the crime, and she had no way of stopping Filho from killing her husband.
An investigator reported that Amaridis and Francoise had a fight three days before Christmas. Another police investigator, Giniton Lages from Rio de Janeiro police said that they found blood spots believed to be those of the ambassador on the sofa inside the home of Francoise.
Police officers handling the investigation are convinced that Francoise has a hand in the murder, and all their pieces of evidence point to her complicity. The officers are convinced that Francoise's motivation was to have access to the financial resources that will be left by her ambassador- husband so she could enjoy life with her lover Sergio. Amiridis and Francoise have a 10-year old daughter.
Both Francoise and Sergio are now under police custody.
Amaridis started his career as diplomat in 1985 in Athens and became the country's top diplomat in Brazil in 2016. He also served as ambassador to Libya, and as consul in Rio from 2001 to 2004.
