Sharita Dickey, center, gets support from Laneka Manson, left, and Monell Manson, right, as she cries out with a prayer for Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson, the mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson outside the Donerson home in Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Hudson appealed on Sunday for the public's help in finding her 7-year-old nephew, missing since the shooting deaths of her mother and brother. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Tacara Juarez, right, and a woman who would not give her name, offer up Muslim and Christian prayers for Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson, the mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson outside the Donerson home in Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Hudson appealed on Sunday for the public's help in finding her 7-year-old nephew, missing since the shooting deaths of her mother and brother. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Investigators look over the driveway at the home of Darnell Donerson, the mother of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson on the Southside of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Hudson appealed on Sunday for the public's help in finding her 7-year-old nephew, missing since the shooting deaths of her mother and brother. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Arthur Reed Jr., pastor of the The Calvary Light Pentecostal Church, posts a new message, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, asking for prayer in support of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's family across the street from where Hudson's mother and brother, Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson, were killed Friday in their Chicago home. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Unidentified men believed to be family members of Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson leave at the office of the Cook County Medical Examiner in Chicago, Oct. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Sherry Teague, center, raises her arm in the air as she and her niece Breille Lewis, right, participate in a candlelight vigil for Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson and her family outside Hudson's mother and brother's home on the Southside of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Hudson appealed on Sunday for the public's help in finding her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, missing since the shooting deaths of her mother and brother Friday. Police found the body of King early Monday morning in an abandoned vehicle. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Several young people participate in a candlelight vigil for Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson and her family outside Hudson's mother and brother's home on the Southside of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew was found dead in the back of an SUV on Monday, ending a frantic search that began after the shooting deaths of her mother and brother three days earlier. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Residents participate in a candlelight vigil for Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson and her family outside Hudson's mother and brother's home on the Southside of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Hudson appealed on Sunday for the public's help in finding her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, missing since the shooting deaths of her mother and brother Friday. Police found the body of King early Monday morning in an abandoned vehicle. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Latasha Garvin says a prayer during at a service for Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson and her family outside Hudson's mother and brother's home on the Southside of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 27, 2008. Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew was found dead in the back of an SUV on Monday, ending a frantic search that began after the shooting deaths of her mother and brother three days earlier. (AP Photo/Sun-Times, Keith Hale) ** CHICAGO LOCALS OUT, MAGS OUT **
A makeshift memorial for Darnell Donerson, her son Jason Hudson, and grandson, 7-year-old Julian King, is seen Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, outside Donerson's home in Chicago. Donerson and Hudson were found shot to death Friday, Oct. 24 inside the home and King was found dead Monday inside an SUV on the city's west Side. Donerson is the mother of singer and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
A woman takes a photograph of the makeshift memorial for Darnell Donerson, her son Jason Hudson, and grandson 7-year-old Julian King Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, outside Donerson's home in Chicago. Donerson and Hudson were found shot to death Friday, Oct. 24 inside the home and King was found dead Monday inside an SUV on the city's west Side. Donerson is the mother of singer and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Crosses are seen for Darnell Donerson, her son Jason Hudson and grandson, 7-year-old Julian King, outside Donerson's home in Chicago on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008. Donerson and Hudson were found shot to death Friday, Oct. 24 inside the home and King was found dead Monday inside an SUV on the city's west Side. Donerson is the mother of singer and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
A photograph of Darnell Donerson and her 7-year-old grandson, Julian King, is seen at a makeshift memorial Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, outside Donerson's home in Chicago. Donerson along with her son, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death inside the home on Friday, Oct. 24. King was found shot to death inside an SUV Monday on the city's West Side. Donerson is the mother of singer and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
A cross with a photo of 7-year-old Julian King, nephew of singer and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, stands at a makeshift memorial Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, outside the home of Darnell Donerson, Hudson's mother, in Chicago. King was found shot to death inside an SUV Monday, Oct., 27 on the city's West Side. Donerson and her son, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death inside the home on Friday, Oct. 24. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Jeffery Wilder passes a makeshift memorial Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, outside the Chicago home of Darnell Donerson, who along with her son, Jason Hudson, were found shot to death inside the home on Friday, Oct. 24. On Monday, Donerson's grandson, Julian King, was found shot to death in an SUV on the city's West Side. Donerson is the mother of singer and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
By David Usborne in New York
– 28 October 2008
Chicago police say the body of a child found in a sport utility vehicle has been identified as that of Julian King, the seven-year-old nephew of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson.
The body of Julian King was lying in the back seat of the white car they had been looking for since the shooting of the actress's mother and brother in Chicago on Friday. The child had vanished from the house in the wake of the double murder, prompting a city-wide hunt for the boy.
Ms Hudson identified the boy's body at the Cook County Medical Examiner's office Monday afternoon.
The original alert for Julian, the son of Julia Hudson, the actress's sister, said that he may have been snatched from the house by someone driving a 1994 white Chevrolet Suburban.
On Sunday, Ms Hudson, who soared to fame with her role in the 2007 musical film Dreamgirls, issued an appeal to the public in her MySpace blog for help in returning Julian. She also offered a $100,000 (£63,000) reward for his return. Julia Hudson, who was at work as a school bus driver at the time of the murders, had made a similar plea to friends and neighbours on Saturday. Julian had been the subject of a frantic search since the killings, which Chicago police have characterised as "domestic related".
Authorities have been questioning Julia Hudson's estranged husband, William Balfour, 27, who is held in state custody on a parole violation relating a previous conviction, when he served seven years in prison for attempted murder. Balfour is the stepfather of Julian. No one has yet been charged for the killings and the motive remains unknown. However, officials said that Mr Balfour remained a "person of interest" in the investigation.
The bodies of the first two victims, Jennifer Hudson's mother Darnell Donerson, 57, and her brother, Jason Hudson, 29, were found by a family member later on Friday in the house that belonged to Ms Donerson and was home to several members of her extended family. By then, Julian was already missing.
The mother of Mr Balfour has publicly insisted that her son was no longer involved with Julia and had nothing to do with the murders of the brother and mother.
However, police sources told The Chicago Sun-Times that he remained their "primary suspect", saying they had tracked his whereabouts on Friday from mobile telephone records. Mr Balfour's girlfriend, who lives at the house where he was arrested, is believed to have contradicted his alibi.
A neighbour of the girlfriend told the paper that he recalled seeing a man matching Mr Balfour's description drive up in a white SUV and park on the block late on Friday morning – at least two hours after the slaying. The man got out of the car carrying what appeared to be a bottle of spirits and walked into the home where Mr Balfour was arrested later in the day.
The tragedy is an extraordinary reversal of fortune for Ms Hudson, who first found fame as an also-ran on the reality talent show, American Idol. She went on to win the Oscar for supporting actress in Dreamgirls. She had been preparing to promote a new album this week and her new movie The Secret Life of Bees has been well received and reviewed.
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