FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A police officer and his wife were found shot to death in their North Carolina home after the officer failed to show up for work Friday night, authorities said.

State agents are investigating the deaths as a double homicide, Fayetteville Police Chief Kemberle Braden said at a late Friday news conference.

Officer Domingo Tavarez-Rodriguez was supposed to start work at 6 p.m. Friday after several days off. When he didn't show up for his shift or answer his phone, supervisors went to his house and found the bodies, Braden said.

The chief said Tavarez-Rodriguez and his wife, Yenitza Arroyo Torres, were both shot, but he did not say if their home appeared to be broken into or give any other details about their deaths.

Domingo Tavarez-Rodriguez was retired from the military and had been a Fayetteville officer for almost two years, Braden said.

Since Tavarez-Rodriguez was a police officer, the State Bureau of Investigation has taken over the investigation, Braden said.