Couple shot to death in Simpsonville home remembered as generous, cheerful neighbors

An American flag waved in the warm Friday morning wind at 255 Hunter Road in Simpsonville. A grill was on the patio ready to keep mealtime heat out of the kitchen and birdfeeders greeted feathered friends.

Two SUVS, one an older Chevy and the other a Nissan, were parked behind the ranch-style home that overlooks Fox Run Golf Course.

The difference from any other Friday morning was the crime scene tape between the sea grass on either side of the driveway and an unmarked Greenville County Sheriff’s Office vehicle in the yard as investigators combed for clues about the residents’ deaths.

Husband and wife Ansel and Alice Bouchillon, ages 66 and 65 respectively, were found dead in their home on Thursday morning of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. The report called the deaths “suspicious” and classified them as homicides.

The Sheriff's Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the incident.

Neighbors were shocked when sheriff’s deputies knocked on their doors Thursday to tell them about the Buchillons’ deaths.

“They were great people and we’re certainly going to miss them,” Dan Johnson said of the neighbors he’s had for 25 years.

They were happy, cheerful people who always had a smile to share, he said. The Bouchillons were the first to bring a meal up the hill to Johnson and his wife, Barbara, after he had a medical procedure.

"I came home from the hospital and Alice was cutting grass," Barbara Johnson said. "She drove over to me as I was getting the mail. She listened to the details, gave me a hug, and said 'We love you.'"

The kindnesses continued with the meal and a bag of puzzle books to keep them occupied during the healing process, Barbara Johnson said. In a quiet neighborhood where people mostly kept to themselves, Alice stood out.

“Alice was sort of like the neighborhood watch dog,” Dan Johnson said. “She kept track of everything that was going on and was very nice and sweet. Ansel was a good ol’ guy who would do anything he could to help you.”

She was a spitfire, as her neighbor Amy Elgin put it. The Bouchillons were quick to welcome the Elgins when they moved in next-door, into what had once been their son’s home, Elgin said.

The couple served as pseudo-parents for her and her husband, she said. They’d swap tools and stores, advice and meals. The Elgin’s outgoing Labrador, Max, was greeted with a smile when he ran over to see what Ansel was grilling, Elgin said.

They were the bedrock of a close community, she added, noting they knew “everybody up and down the road.”

The property where her house – and the Johnson house – sits was once all Bouchillon family land, she said. His family had been in the area forever and she doesn’t think anyone knows it quite as well as Ansel had.

They made a point to keep the neighborhood of homes with spacious, rolling lawns one where neighbors knew one another by name, Johnson said.

“They would give you the shirt off their back in a heartbeat,” Elgin said. “If somebody needed something, they were there for them, for everyone.”

Their generosity was remembered above all else, Barbara Johnson said.

"We will miss them," she said, "but glad that they went together."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Simpsonville couple died from multiple gunshot wounds inside home