Man who killed Opry, 'Hee Haw' star Stringbean granted parole

WKRN-TV Nashville ^ | Oct. 15, 2014 | None Listed

[JennysCool]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -

The man who killed "Hee Haw" star and Grand Ole Opry performer David "Stringbean" Akeman and his wife, Estelle, four decades ago has been granted parole.

Melissa McDonald with the Tennessee Board of Parole told News 2 the board voted Wednesday morning to grant John Brown parole.

Brown has served 40 years of his 198-year sentence for killing the Akemans in 1973 as they returned to their home following a performance at the Opry.

[TexasCajun]

[AppyPappy]

Details are sketchy as to why he did it but there did seem to be a robbery involved.

[TangoLimaSierra]

Wow. Never heard about this before.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Stringbean didn’t trust banks, and kept a big stash at his home.

[John W]

Laid in wait and murdered them in cold blood, robbery the motive. Can’t understand why he is being released.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Stringbean is dead? Next you’ll tell me Grandpa and Junior are gone or Minnie Pearl!

[Kartographer]

Akeman was modest and unassuming, and he enjoyed hunting and fishing. Accustomed to the hard times of the Great Depression, Akeman and his wife Estelle lived frugally in a tiny cabin near Ridgetop, Tennessee. Their only indulgence was a Cadillac. Depression-era bank failures caused Akeman not to trust banks with his money. Gossip around Nashville was that Akeman kept large amounts of cash on hand, even though he was by no means wealthy by entertainment industry standards.

On Saturday night, November 10, 1973, Akeman and his wife returned home after he performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Both were shot dead shortly after their arrival. The killers had waited for hours. The bodies were discovered the following morning by their neighbor, Grandpa Jones.

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 Stringbean 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 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.”[2]

The killers took only a chain saw and some firearms. In 1996, 23 years after the murders, $20,000 in paper money was discovered behind a chimney brick in Stringbean’s home. The money had deteriorated to such an extent that it was not usable and had to be turned in to a bank.

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.[3] 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 the Felony murder rule.

Marvin Brown died of natural causes in 2003, at the Brushy Mountain Prison, in Petros, Tennessee, and is buried in the prison cemetery. John Brown is incarcerated in a Tennessee Special Needs Facility. In July 2008, the Tennessee Parole Board deferred any parole for 36 months. He was again denied parole in July 2011. The A&E cable television network profiled the case on a 2003 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%22Stringbean%22_Akeman

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yep. The home was sold again just a couple of years ago, and the new owners found even more thousands of dollars in cash hidden in a wall someplace.

These murders were brutal. Shame on the parole board.

[Dallas59]

Akeman was modest and unassuming, and he enjoyed hunting and fishing. Accustomed to the hard times of the Great Depression, Akeman and his wife Estelle lived frugally in a tiny cabin near Ridgetop, Tennessee. Their only indulgence was a Cadillac. Depression-era bank failures caused Akeman not to trust banks with his money. Gossip around Nashville was that Akeman kept large amounts of cash on hand, even though he was by no means wealthy by entertainment industry standards.

On Saturday night, November 10, 1973, Akeman and his wife returned home after he performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Both were shot dead shortly after their arrival. The killers had waited for hours. The bodies were discovered the following morning by their neighbor, Grandpa Jones.

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 Stringbean 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 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 chain saw and some firearms. In 1996, 23 years after the murders, $20,000 in paper money was discovered behind a chimney brick in Stringbean's home. The money had deteriorated to such an extent that it was not usable and had to be turned in to a bank.

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 the Felony murder rule.

[tumblindice]

Minnie had a price on her head.

[Jagdgewehr]

Brown has served 40 years of his 198-year sentence for killing the Akemans...

Oh, well Hell's Bells, that plenty long enough for killing two people.

/srac.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Shame on them for sure.

[TexasCajun]

I grew up watching Hee-Haw.

Roy Clark, still alive, was one the best banjo, guitar player's around in his day.

Always wondered what if he had taken a different path with rock & roll and electric guitar.

[teeman8r]

LOL

[stephenjohnbanker]

Electric chair would have been proper for this crime.

[2ndDivisionVet]

[teeman8r]

the way the headline is written... stringbean was granted parole for killing the opry...

sheesh.

press one for english

[Pontiac]

Melissa McDonald with the Tennessee Board of Parole told News 2 the board voted Wednesday morning to grant John Brown parole.

Well maybe they can vote to parole the Akmans from being dead.

[GraceG]

[ These murders were brutal. Shame on the parole board. ]

If I were onthe parole board I would recommend immediate parole.... Out the back of an airplane at several thousand feet without a parachute....

The killing was premeditated, and the killer should have been put down like the rabid dog they are...