Here are some dates. Income information is in the attached People.com article.
Frederick, Co home purchased: April 2013
Bella's date of birth: Dec. 17, 2013
Celeste's date of birth: July 17, 2015
Bankruptcy filed: June-July 2015
When the home was purchased in 2013, CW worked at the auto dealership and was making over $100,000 a year, so obviously, he's capable of making that kind of money. What happened? The attached People.com article states their earnings for 2013 were $147,256. Shanann, it appears, was earning around $35,000 a year at Children's Hospital. When they filed Chapter 7 in 2015, their stated income was $40,491 and CW was working for Anadarko. Even if we remove Shanann's income, the huge drop in combined income was the drop in CW's income, JMO.
Shanann and Chris Watts Claimed $448,820 Debt in 2015 Bankruptcy Filing, With Dog as $5 Asset
CW explains his career change was because of carpel tunnel syndrome. Did he have a medical diagnosis? Did he have surgery? Did he file a workers' comp claim to get benefits and a settlement to help support his family? I haven't heard a thing that he did any of that. I think he shut down and used this as an excuse.
JMO, I think CW started to check out after Bella was born. His income was tanking and by the time Shanann was on bed rest during her pregnancy with CeCe, it was time for bankruptcy. Shanann's parents were living with them to help with the house and Bella. He could have easily worked evenings and weekends at a side job. But he didn't.
He murdered his living children with ease, and showed no remorse afterward. He made sure Nico never got a chance to be born. I don't think the guy ever wanted to be a dad and I think that really is why he was so angry at Shanann. I think he went along with having the babies to keep Shanann, and when he grew bored with Shanann and found a quick replacement, he was done with all of them.
All JMO.