BOYKINS, Va. – An elderly couple was found dead Thursday in their home outside of Boykins.

Investigators discovered the bodies of 70-year-old Edward Lee Everett Sr. and his wife, 71-year-old Queen Ester Everett, in a bedroom at their home, located at 18390 Number 8 Schoolhouse Road.

Southampton County (Va.) Detective Cpl. Richard Morris said police received a call through the dispatch center at 11:52 a.m. and arrived on the scene at 12:10 p.m. He said the couple had apparently died from gunshot wounds and that a weapon was recovered from the scene.

Morris said he could not reveal the nature of the victims’ wounds or details about the weapon that was recovered. Investigators also declined to classify the deaths as a murder or a murder-suicide, or speculate about motive. Morris said the incident was under investigation.

Dozens of people crowded the front and side yard of the house next door to where the bodies were found, and a few also congregated directly across the street. A steady stream of vehicles drove slowly by the home and several passengers were dropped off along the way to become additional spectators.

No one in the crowd would comment on the incident, but one woman said she knew the victims and said their passing “was very sad.”

The crowd was orderly and did not approach the yellow crime scene tape that deputies from the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office put around the one-story white brick house, just yards away from the Boykins town limits. Several county police cruisers, a medical examiner’s van and a Boykins patrol car were also parked at the scene at various times. Two dogs were chained up in the back yard of the victims’ home and several articles of clothing hung from a line.

The bodies were removed from the home at about 5 p.m. for transfer to the medical examiner’s office in Norfolk.