The tragic in-laws of NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson were once $475,000 in debt trends now
The tragic in-laws of NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson once sank $475,000 into debt and had to be financially rescued by filing for bankruptcy, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Jack and Terry Janway owed almost $175,000 on 15 credit cards as they battled in vain to keep their heads above water, but had a combined average monthly income of just $3,993 to pay them off.
Five years after their daughter Chandra wed racecar driver Johnson – now worth a reported $160million – the couple applied for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.
The money woes add another dimension to Monday's horror when Terry gunned down Jack, 69, and grandson Dalton, 11, before killing herself in an apparent murder-suicide at their neat four-bedroom single-story home on a quiet tree-lined street in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Terry Lynn Janway, 68, (left) shot her husband Jack, 69, and 11-year-old grandson Dalton Janway dead before turning the gun on herself at the couple's home in Muskogee on Monday night
Records show that the in-laws of NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson (pictured with wife Chandra) – who is worth a reported $160million – amassed $174,478 on 15 credit cards while trying to keep a variety of companies afloat
On Thursday, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed 68-year-old Terry snapped after secretly suffering depression over the son she lost nine years ago in a freak skydiving accident.
Now we can also reveal specific details of the couple's previous financial nightmare that took more than two years to resolve in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Jack ran a leading chiropractor practice in Muskogee, however the filing was not related to the business and the couple were classified as two individual debtors.
According to their voluntary petition drawn up in May 2009, they had amassed $174,478 in credit card debt while juggling a variety of companies to stay afloat.
This included $22,629 owed to Bank of America, $22,931 on one Chase card and $16,060 on another, $19,086 to Choice Visa, $17,800 to MBNA, $11,881 to HSBC and $9,548 on one Citi card with $11,226 on another.
Their total assets were logged at $304,654, including 'real property' of $248,787 – referring to their home at the time which was different to the murder scene, a tract of land and Jack's business office.
The rest was made up of $55,867 personal property, which included just $7.04 in a Bank of America savings account, $750 in two Bank of America checking accounts, $3,300 in furniture and household goods – and $775 listed as 'guns and camera'.
According to their voluntary petition drawn up in May 2009, they had amassed $174,478 in credit card debt while juggling a variety of companies to stay afloat
The couple's total assets were logged at $304,654, including 'real property' of $248,787 – referring to their former home
Three vehicles, including a two-year-old Jeep Cherokee worth $20,000, helped push up the total, along with a $13,000 Dutchman travel trailer.
However total liabilities were logged as $475,477, with a secured claim of $265,565 referring to their home and land, $35,433 for 'other debts owed to government units' and the credit card debts making up the rest.
The Janways' bankruptcy was discharged in February 2010, but the final decree was not lodged until October 2011.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is regarded as a second chance for people to regain their finances by having credit card debt and unsecured loans discharged by the court.
Muskogee police have been quoted as saying investigating officers may never know why, years later, Terry killed her husband and one of her grandsons.
However, DailyMail.com has been told exclusively by a nephew of 47-year-old racecar legend Johnson that she never got over losing son Jordan, 27, in a freak skydiving accident in San Diego, California, in 2004.
High school student Seth Robison – who is also Terry's grandson and victim Dalton's beloved half-brother – revealed : 'My grandmother, she was a very sweet lady. If you met her she was the nicest person you ever met in your life.
'And I guess unknown to me, and quite a lot of other people, she had been struggling with depression and stuff we didn't know about until it was too late.
'About nine years ago my grandparents lost their son, my uncle in a skydiving accident, and I now believe that's what started her descent into depression.'
Speaking with remarkable composure, the 16-year-old added: 'I believe that she had never intended to harm the other two.
'It just happened and I have spoken to some people who have had experience of this kind of thing and they said once people snap they aren't really their former self anymore.'
Seth and Dalton were close and had the same mother, Marianne Janway, 40, who is the sister 44-year-old wife Chandra, but had different fathers.
The younger sibling had lived with his grandparents since the age of two after Marianne sought treatment for drug issues, Seth said.
And the mom, who now lives in California, posted an agonizing message on Facebook about her parents and young son after the tragedy, saying: 'Please tell me this isn't really happening, please god someone.'
The Janway family home where the tragedy took place in Muskogee, Oklahoma on Wednesday
Jack ran a leading chiropractor practice in Muskogee, however the bankruptcy filing was not related to the business and the couple were classified as two individual debtors
The Janways' chiropractic practice's front door now bears a note saying the office is closed due to 'unforeseen circumstances'
Seth also revealed he broke the news of the horror to Chandra Johnson during an emotion-charged phone call to the celebrity couple's home in Charlotte, North Carolina, hours after it happened.
'I was the one that had to
