Police say the Anglican bishop for Brazil's northeastern state of Pernambuco has been killed along with his wife.

A spokeswoman for the state's public safety department says Edward Robinson Cavalcanti and his wife Miriam were stabbed to death on Sunday in their home in the city of Olinda. She spoke on condition of anonymity, citing internal regulations.

She says the couple's adopted son Eduardo is suspected of killing them "for reasons that remain unclear."

She says the son stabbed his father during a heated argument and when his mother tried to stop him he plunged the knife into her.

She says the son was hospitalized after he tried to commit suicide by drinking poison.