More on Jennifer Hudson’s Family Tragedy

Not only her mother and brother, Jennifer Hudson had lost another member of the family. It’s her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King.

Julian’s body was found Monday in a white SUV, three days after the bodies of Hudson’s mother and brother were discovered in their home on the Chicago’s South Side. His body had been left in the back seat of a stolen car found abandoned on a Chicago street. Authorities said Julian died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Although have not yet identified a suspect in the case and no one has been charged in the killings, but police confirmed that 27-year-old William Balfour, Julian’s stepfather, had been taken into custody and was being held for a parole violation, and that he remained a “person of interest” in the case. Police believe that the murders ‘wasn’t the case of a stranger-type homicide’.

Balfour was released from prison in 2006 after serving seven years on convictions for attempted murder, car theft and vehicular hijacking. According to the officers’ report, last June police pulled over Balfour’s car after hearing gunshots in the area. They found a rock of cocaine in plain view on the driver’s seat. A parole supervisor declined to issue a warrant to revoke Balfour’s parole after the arrest. A judge dismissed the charge for lack of probable cause in July, though no reason was cited in court records.

Records show that on the day the victims were fatally shot and the young boy went missing, Balfour told his parole agent he had missed a meeting because he was baby-sitting. Balfour has denied involvement in the murders or disappearance, because he is estranged from Hudson’s older sister Julia.

The Dreamgirls star was the one to identify the boy, saying “yes that’s him” when his face appeared on a wall-mounted video screen, said Sean Howard, a spokesman for the medical examiner’s office. She entered the room with her head bowed but “remained strong for her family. It was very clear she was the leader,” Howard said.

Just a month ago, the 27-year-old singer 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. She appeared in summer hit Sex and the City, and has a supporting role in the movie The Secret Life of Bees. Already an Oscar-winning actress, she has many plans for her future. Not only a plan to have a wedding with fiance David Otunga, the singer also plans to have a tour. “There’s more films and more music and stuff like that … I want to start a fashion line as well, start writing music,” she shared her dreams.

But last week, tragedy happened to her family. “This is really something no one can really deal with, and you never fully recover from something like this,” said Harvey Mason, who has written and produced songs for Hudson and considers her a friend. “But she’s a very strong person, and she’s got a great heart, and I’m just sad something like this has had to enter into her life.”

Our deepest condolences… this is tragedy beyond words. Our prayers and well wishes for the Hudsons, be strong, and God bless…

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