David "Stringbean" Akeman

David Akeman (June 17, 1915 – November 10, 1973), best known for his role as a main cast member on the hit television show Hee Haw and as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Akeman was well known for his "old-fashioned" banjo-picking style, careful mix of comedy and music, and his memorable stage wardrobe (which consisted of a long nightshirt tucked into a pair of short blue jeans belted around his knees — giving him the comical appearance of a very tall man with stubby legs). Akeman and his wife were shot and murdered by burglars in their rural Tennessee home near Ridgetop, Tennessee, in 1973.

Biography Early life and career Born in Annville, Akeman came from a musical family, including his father, James Akeman, who played the banjo at local dances. He got his first banjo when he was 12 years old in exchange for a pair of prize bantam chickens.

Akeman originally was only a musician, but when another performer failed to show up one night, he was used as a singer and comic. From then, Akeman did both comedy and music. He appeared on WLAP-AM in Lexington, Kentucky, and played with several groups in the late 1930s. As a ballplayer, he met bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, who fielded with another semipro team. From 1943 to 1945, Akeman played banjo for Monroe's band, performing on recordings such as "Goodbye Old Pal". He also teamed with Willie Egbert Westbrook as String Beans and Cousin Wilbur, a comedy duo who appeared on the same bill as Monroe's band. When he left Monroe, he was replaced by Earl Scruggs, a banjoist with a very different style.

Murder Akeman was modest and unassuming, and he enjoyed hunting and fishing. Accustomed to the hard times of the Great Depression, Akeman and his wife Estell lived frugally in a small cabin at 2308 Baker Road, near Ridgetop, Tennessee. Their only indulgences were a Cadillac and a color TV. Depression-era bank failures caused Akeman not to trust banks with his money.

A police investigation resulted in the convictions of cousins John A. Brown and Marvin Douglas Brown, both 23 years old. They had ransacked the cabin, and killed Akeman when he arrived. His wife shrieked when she saw her husband murdered. She begged for her life, but was shot, as well. According to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, "Upon their return, Mr. Akeman spotted the intruders in his home and evidently offered some resistance. One of the Brown cousins fatally shot Mr. Akeman, then pursued, shot, and killed Mrs. Akeman. At their trial (where Akeman's fellow cast member and friend Grandpa Jones testified, as he recognized one of the stolen firearms in the defendants' possession as a gift he had given Akeman), each defendant blamed the other for the homicides." The killers took only a chainsaw and some firearms.

Marvin Douglas Brown fought his convictions in the appellate courts. On September 28, 1982, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial judge's order denying him a new trial. Marvin Brown ultimately granted an exclusive interview to Larry Brinton of the Nashville Banner. He admitted his part in the burglary and murders, but insisted John Brown fired the fatal shots. As Marvin Brown, by his own admission, had committed burglary (a felony) that resulted in death, Brown was legally guilty of murder, regardless of who fired the shots, under Tennessee's felony murder rule.

Marvin Brown died of natural causes in 2003, at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, and he is buried in the prison cemetery. John Brown was incarcerated in Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville. In July 2008, the Tennessee Parole Board deferred any parole for 36 months. He was again denied parole in July 2011. In 2014, John Brown was granted parole and released after serving 41 years of a 198-year sentence.

The A&E cable television network profiled the case on a 1999 episode of its City Confidential series.

David and Estelle Akeman are buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. During the remaining production of Hee Haw, the scarecrow was left as a memorial.

Bluegrass artist Sam Bush recorded "The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle", which tells the story of their murders, for his 2009 album Circles Around Me. The song was written by Bush, Guy Clark, and Verlon Thompson, and it was nominated by the International Bluegrass Music Association for Song of the Year in 2011.