2 Relatives of Jennifer Hudson Reported Slain Friday October 24, 2008 USA The mother and brother of the Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson were found shot to death inside her mother’s house on the South Side of Chicago on Friday afternoon, and the police were said to be looking for her 7-year-old nephew. The police confirmed that Ms. Hudson’s mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, 57, was one of the victims, the ABC affiliate WLS reported on its Web site. A neighbor reportedly told the entertainment Web site TMZ that the other victim had been identified as Ms. Hudson’s brother, Jason S. Hudson, 29. The police said they were searching for Ms. Hudson’s nephew, Julian King, who had been reported missing on Friday morning. According to The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times, the police arrested William Balfour late Friday. According to TMZ, Mr. Balfour reportedly listed the address of Ms. Hudson’s mother in the Englewood neighborhood as his place of residence within the last year. The Web site also reported that according to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Mr. Balfour is on parole after serving time in prison for attempted murder. WLS reported that neighbors told the police they heard shots fired on Friday morning. But it was not until Friday afternoon that a family member found Ms. Donerson in the living room and left the house to call the police, the television station reported. When they arrived at the house, they found Mr. Hudson in a bedroom. The police said that there was no sign of forced entry at the house, and that the shootings were the result of a domestic dispute. The Rev. Willie Davis, pastor of the Progressive Baptist Church, where Ms. Hudson and her family were members, said that despite her daughter’s celebrity, Ms. Donerson chose to stay and live on the South Side, WLS reported. “That says a lot about the fact of the kind of family Jennifer comes from,” Mr. Davis was quoted as saying. “They’re a family of faith. They want to be attached to their roots.” Church leaders said they were told that Ms. Hudson was flying home to Chicago from Tampa, Fla., according to the television station. In 2007, Ms. Hudson won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her role as Effie White in the film "Dreamgirls." source: NYTimes ================================================================= Man Is Arrested in Deaths of Hudson’s Relatives Saturday October 25, 2008 USA Jennifer Hudson, right, with her mother, Darnell Donerson, in March 2007. CHICAGO (AP) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the search on Saturday for the 7-year-old nephew of the actress Jennifer Hudson, still missing a day after the bodies of Ms. Hudson’s mother and brother were found in her childhood home. William Balfour, a suspect in the deaths, was arrested Friday but has not been charged, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing law enforcement officials. Mr. Balfour remained in custody, but the nephew, Julian King, has not been seen since the bodies of the mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and the brother, Jason Hudson, 29, were found Friday. A police spokesman, John Mirabelli, said the F.B.I. had been asked to help in the search because the boy might have been taken across state lines. An F.B.I. spokesman confirmed that the agency was assisting. Neighbors, friends and relatives gathered Saturday outside the three-story white house on the South Side of Chicago where Ms. Hudson went to school and sang in church. Some left stuffed animals and flowers, and others planned a search for Julian. A family member entering Ms. Donerson’s home had found her shot on the living room floor. Officers later found Mr. Hudson shot in the bedroom, the police said. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said Saturday that Ms. Donerson and Mr. Hudson died of gunshot wounds. The deaths were ruled homicides. Mr. Balfour’s mother, Michele, said that her son had been married to Ms. Hudson’s sister, Julia, for several years, but that they were separated. She also said that Ms. Donerson had ordered him to move out of the family’s home last winter. Julian is Julia Hudson’s son, and she made a plea for his return during an appearance at a Chicago church with his father, Greg King. “I don’t care who you are,” she said. “Just let the baby go.” Jennifer Hudson won an Academy Award in 2007 for her supporting role in “Dreamgirls.” In an interview last year with Vogue, she credited her mother with encouraging her to audition for “American Idol,” starting her career. Source: NYTimes ================================================================== Body of Hudson’s Nephew Found in Chicago Monday October 27, 2008 USA The police found the body of the young nephew of the actress and singer Jennifer Hudson in an abandoned sport-utility vehicle in Chicago on Monday, three days after her mother and brother were found dead in their home about 10 miles away. [SIZE=-1]Mourners on Monday at the home in Chicago of Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother.[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]A prayer was held for Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother, who were shot to death last week, outside of the family’s home in Chicago on Monday. [/SIZE]The child, Julian King, 7, was found shot to death in the back of a white 1994 Chevrolet Suburban belonging to Ms. Hudson’s brother that had been missing since Friday. The Chicago police superintendent, Jody Weis, said the motive for the killing was unknown. He added that the police had not yet identified a suspect but that the boy’s stepfather, William Balfour, was considered a “person of interest” in the case. Mr. Balfour, 27, is being held on a parole violation by the Illinois Department of Corrections, and has been questioned but not charged in the killings. Jennifer Hudson and her older sister, Julia Hudson, the child’s mother, had called on the public for help in bringing him home safely, and the family had offered a $100,000 reward for his return. Julian Julian lived in the white clapboard house on the South Side of Chicago where the killings took place. He had been missing since the bodies of Ms. Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, were found about 3 p.m. Friday. Both died of gunshot wounds. The Chevrolet Suburban was found about 7 a.m. Monday by a resident who called the police to report a suspicious vehicle parked along a residential street on the city’s West Side. Commander Wayne Gulliford of the Chicago police said at a news conference Monday morning that the vehicle matched the one they had sought in an Amber Alert issued after the killings. Mr. Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, has convictions for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, according to the Corrections Department. He was released from prison in May 2006 after more than six years in detention and remains on probation, said a department spokeswoman, Januari Smith. Jennifer Hudson, who won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for the 2006 film “Dreamgirls,” had been on a promotional tour in Florida for her latest movie, “The Secret Lives of Bees,” when she received word of the killings. She returned to Chicago on Friday night. Source: NYTimes
this is just very saddening to hear the violence =\, hope the murderer will get caught soon and get punished by the law to the fullest
