During the investigation into Reynolds' death in 1932, Libby would claim that Reynolds was deathly afraid of being kidnapped for his money. She described incidents she witnessed of his paranoia, such as leaving a dummy on top of his bed, while he himself slept under it; lurking around the house with a pistol if he heard a strange noise; accidentally firing said pistol inside the cottage on one occasion; and, once, upon hearing people talking outside the house, jumping out the back window and running two miles for the police. However, biographers Patrick Reynolds and Tom Shachtman doubt the veracity of these statements. Police reports describing any of these incidents were never filed; furthermore, Libby claimed he was petrified of kidnappers before the time that the Lindbergh kidnapping had gripped the national public consciousness.