Francisco Alor, the state attorney general in Quintana Roo state, said prosecutors would initiate extradition proceedings soon seeking to return TV producer Bruce Beresford-Redman from the United States.
Beresford-Redman has denied any involvement in the death last month of his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman.
Police detained the husband briefly and then released him after confiscating his passport and telling him not to leave Mexico. But Beresford-Redman returned to Southern California and stated in court documents that he had been living with his two children for more than a week.
His attorney, Richard Hirsch, said in a statement before the warrant was confirmed that issuing an arrest warrant was a rush to judgment.
"We have been advised that Mexican authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Bruce Beresford-Redman," he said. That "is extremely disturbing since it appears that this case is being handled in a manner outside the normal procedures in Mexico." Hirsch said his client is innocent and prepared to defend himself in court.
He also issued a statement from Beresford-Redman: "I am devastated at her loss," it said. "I am incensed at the suggestion that I could have had anything to do with her death ... My children have had one parent taken from them by a senseless act of violence. I implore the Mexican authorities not to take their remaining parent by a miscarriage of justice." Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found April 8 in a sewer at the Moon Palace Hotel resort in Cancun.
Investigators have said her body showed signs of asphyxiation and evidence of a heavy blow to the right temple.
They said Beresford-Redman told them he last saw her after she left the resort to go shopping and never returned.
Prosecutors say he reported her missing two days before her body was found.
