If you remember his best friend on the show, the comedian String Bean was murdered during the run of Hee Haw. If I remember correctly they were supposed to go fishing together and Jones found the bodies.
Wickipedia:
On a Saturday night in November 1973, the Akemans returned home after performing a show at the
Grand Ole Opry, and were shot dead upon their arrival. Thieves had lain in wait for hours. The Akemans' bodies were discovered the following morning by neighbor and fellow performer
Grandpa Jones (Louis Marshall Jones).
A police investigation into the double
homicide resulted in the conviction of cousins John A. Brown and Marvin Douglas Brown, both of whom were 23 years old at the time of the murders. At trial, it was revealed that the two had ransacked the cabin and then killed "Stringbean." Estelle shrieked when she saw "Stringbean" hit with the bullets. A few moments later, after begging for her life, she was gunned down as well. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals described the scene, "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, each defendant blamed the other for the homicides."
Brown v. State, unpublished decision at 1991 WL 242928.
The thieves left with nothing more than a
chain saw and some guns. In 1996, twenty-three years after their murders, $20,000 in cash was discovered behind a brick in the chimney of the Akemans' home.
Regards,
Mary