fueled  July 4th holiday party in 1932 at the familys estate, Libby  announced she was pregnant. Stories differ, but there was reportedly  a tense confrontation, a gunshot and the young Smith was dead. Libby  and Ab Walker, a close friend of Smiths who was whispered to be her  lover, were indicted for murder. Fearing scandal over their sons  activities, the intensely private Reynolds family pressed  authorities to drop the charges. The death was officially ruled a  suicide.