On October 24, 2008, Hudson's 57-year-old mother, Darnell Donerson, and her 29-year-old brother, Jason, were shot dead inside Donerson's home, in Chicago, Illinois. Likely shot before 3 p.m., they were discovered by Jason's cousin.An AMBER Alert was issued for Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, after Hudson's elder sister, Julia, reported him missing.
On October 24, Chicago police arrested a suspect, William Balfour, 27, the estranged husband of Hudson's sister Julia, but he was not charged with any crime.Balfour is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen vehicle. The Illinois Department of Corrections' records reveal one of Balfour's addresses to be the home where Donerson and Jason Hudson were murdered.
The body was discovered on the city's west side, but the victim has not yet been identified, said William Taylor a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's officer.
Local media report that police fear the child could be Hudson's nephew because the body was found in the same white sports utility they were looking for in connection with his disappearance.
Hudson's family had made a desperate plea for the safe return of the seven-year-old boy, Julian King, who vanished after his grandmother and brother were murdered at the family's home on Friday.
"Jennifer and her family appreciate the enormous amount of love, support and prayers they have received while she and her family try to cope with this tragedy and continue the search for Julian," the family said in a statement on the star's website.
King disappeared from his grandmother's home on Friday, a home he shared with his mother, Julia Hudson (the singer's older sister), his grandmother and uncle.
His grandmother Darnell Donerson, 59, and uncle Jason Hudson, 29, were found by a family member shot dead in the home, according to authorities.
At the weekend, Julia Hudson pleaded for the return of her son.
"Give me my baby back. That's all I ask," a tearful Julia Hudson, 31, told reporters Saturday at a Baptist church on the South Side of Chicago.
"I know he's out there. Put him on the side of the street. Just let him go."
Autopsies showed that the pair died from multiple gunshot wounds, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said Saturday.
Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson identified the bodies of her mother and brother at the morgue shortly after jetting back to her home town from Florida late Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times said.
The actress, whose star turn in "Dreamgirls" earned her an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007, was in Florida promoting her latest movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," when she got word of the tragedy, according to the Chicago Tribune.
On her MySpace web page the family pleaded for help in finding Julian King and posted pictures of the boy.
"Once again thank you all for being there for us through this tough time," the message said.
Chicago police issued an Amber Alert, or child abduction bulletin, for King on Friday. On Saturday, authorities called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help with the search in case the boy had been taken over state lines.
"We're doing that as a precautionary measure," Chicago Police superintendent Jody Weis told CNN. Weis said the slayings and the child's disappearance appeared to be a domestic matter.
The police initially identified William Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia Hudson and step-father of Julian King, as a suspect in the case.
The 27-year-old baker has convictions for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was released from prison in May 2006 and is still on probation.
Chicago police had taken him into custody by late Friday for questioning, but at some point on the weekend he stopped cooperating with authorities and was transferred to an undisclosed state facility for violating the conditions of his parole for a 1999 conviction for attempted murder, the Tribune reported.
It said police declined to name Balfour as a suspect, saying they were only interviewing him and that he has not been charged with the murders.
Balfour had split up with Julia Hudson and moved out of the home she shared with her family, friends and neighbors said.
Jennifer Hudson has shunned the spotlight since returning to the Windy City. The 27-year-old was riding high with a new movie and a number one hit on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop charts from her recently released self-titled debut album, until the family tragedy upended her life.
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