Police said it appears a 44-year-old man killed his wife and their 14-year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself this week in their North Fort Worth home.

The victims were identified in a police report as Eliana Vece, 36, and Mailene Vece, 14. Police believe they were killed by James Vece, 44.

The wife and mother was an Irving middle school teacher who was reported missing after she failed to show up for work Tuesday and Wednesday, said Lt. Paul Henderson, a police spokesman.

When officers arrived at the home in the 4600 block of Birchbend Lane about 6 p.m. Wednesday, they observed that the window shades were drawn and did not notice anything suspicious, police said.

The officers then interviewed a neighbor across the street who told them that he and a friend were in his open garage when they heard a man and a woman screaming at each other between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Tuesday, police said. The neighbor thought it was odd because he had never heard the couple argue in the past.

"A few minutes after the screaming was subsided, they heard three to four loud popping sounds that they wondered if they were gunshots or if they were fireworks," Lt. Henderson said. "They decided that it just had been fireworks, therefore did not notify police."

The officers, however, became concerned and returned to the home and found an unlocked bedroom window. They crawled through the window and found a girl lying on the bed. The body of a woman was found on the floor next to the bed and a man's body was found on the floor between the bedroom and the hallway.

All three appeared to have been shot in the head, police said.

The Tarrant County medical examiner's office will perform the autopsies.