What evidence existed against Skyler White during the final episodes of Breaking Bad?

Question

I've been watching Breaking Bad as of late, and I've got the final episode planned for tonight (so please, no spoilers). In Ozymandias and Granite State, we see Walter White going into hiding after the murder of his brother-in-law. I understand that he needed to flee his family after it was revealed to Walter Jr. that Walter was a Meth kingpin. But during Granite State, we all of a sudden see Skyler talking to the police about Walter. Later, we hear that Skyler has been thrown out of her own house, that the White residence has become a playground for adolecents and that Walter's crimes have been outed all over America.

Yet the DEA only has little puzzle pieces of evidence. Hank and Gomez have vanished, the Schrader house was broken into and Walter kidnapped his daughter: enough to know something's on, but nothing leading to Walt's secret identity as a drug kingpin. The only evidence that was there, if I remember correctly, was the testimonies of Marie, Skyler and partly Walter Jr.

Did they rat Walter out? Or am I overlooking some piece of evidence? What fueled the DEA investigation into Walter White and what did they have that was so concrete that they managed to press charges against Skyler?

Answer 1

As @Napoleon said in his comment, this other answer explains why Skyler had charges pressed against her.

As for whether the family ratted Walter out? I'd say most definitely. Hank disappears, but we know he told Maria where he was going and so when Walt comes back to the house and takes Holly, Maria, Skyler and Walt Jr. are all left in no doubt as to what has happened to Hank.

Whilst Maria has been sickened by Walt for a while, this is unquestionably the final straw for Walt's family. Remember Skyler uses a knife to fend him off and is visibly terrified of this man she once knew. Their hatred of Walt is reinforced when Walt tries to call Walt Jr. at school some time later to give him money. Walt Jr. has no interest and is incensed that Walt thinks he would care about that.

Another important person you've not mentioned in your question is Jesse. He worked with the DEA to try to bring Walt down - and this operation didn't just involve Hank and Gomez.

I'd say at this point, with both testimony of Maria, Walt Jr and Skyler, coupled with Jesse's former help, they had more than enough evidence to suggest Walt was the drug kingpin.

When we see Skyler in the final episode, she's a shell of who she was and has obviously lost almost everything. This strongly suggests that once the DEA did a little digging it was easy to find how much money had been laundered at the car wash - and obviously this would strongly support their case. Remember as well that earlier in the series Skyler gave a huge payoff to Ted as she didn't want anyone digging through the finances of her family or the car wash, as they were processing so much money there was no obvious way to conceal it (and so people couldn't look too closely or the game would be up).

In fact, it's likely the only reason Skyler wasn't more heavily implicated was Walt's aggressive (and fake) phone call to her where he threatened her if she talked to the police, which was one last "act of kindness" by Walt as he realised how much trouble she would be in.

So, in conclusion: they certainly would have ratted him out, and the DEA also had the evidence of Jesse and any evidence they found of money laundering at the car wash.