The youngest Reynolds child, Zachary Smith Reynolds, called "Smith," was seven when his mother died. Smith died mysteriously of a gunshot wound to the head at his parents' estate, Reynolda House, on July 6, 1932. His pregnant wife, broadway starlet Libby Holman, and best friend Albert Walker were indicted for the murder, in a sensational case that garnered national attention. Reynolds contacted the district attorney and asked for the charges against his nephew's alleged killers to be dropped; the prosecutor eventually did so for lack of evidence, and no trial on the matter was ever held. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was established in Smith Reynolds' name by Smith Reynolds' siblings and by Reynolds. The foundation lured Wake Forest University away from its location away in Wake Forest, North Carolina to establish a new campus on the grounds of Reynolda House and receive an annual endowment from the foundation.