Celebrity Mound

The convicted felon suspected in the slayings of Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew was arrested after police allegedly found crack cocaine in his car in June, but authorities declined to return him to prison on a parole violation, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

A judge dismissed the charge for lack of probable cause in July, but under the strict rules of the state’s parole program, William Balfour could have gone back to prison just for the arrest.

No one has been charged in the shooting deaths of Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, her brother, Jason Hudson, and 7-year-old nephew Julian King, but Balfour has been named as a suspect. Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said Tuesday he is confident the case will be solved.

Balfour – Julian’s stepfather and the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister – served seven years for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking. Court records show that in 1998 Balfour stole a Chevrolet Suburban and, with the vehicle’s owner clinging to the top, intentionally rammed it into a light pole, fence and iron gate.

According to a Chicago police report, officers pulled Balfour over June 19 after hearing gunshots and seeing his car moving at a high rate of speed. Inside the vehicle, police said, they found a rock of cocaine with a street value of about $100 on the driver’s seat.

Balfour’s parole history report indicates a parole supervisor declined to issue a warrant to revoke Balfour’s parole after his arrest for possession of cocaine.

“Per supervisor … no warrant,” the report reads. “Agent to monitor offender, impose sanctions.”

Corrections Department spokesman Derek Schnapp said officials determined “the evidence that was presented during that time wouldn’t have necessarily warranted a violation.”

Court records do not indicate the reason a judge found no probable cause for the drug arrest.

A felony arrest usually is enough for Corrections to revoke parole, said Thomas Peters, a Chicago criminal defense attorney who represents parolees.

“Even though the criminal case is dismissed does not mean that you necessarily get a pass on a parole violation because the standard of proof is much less,” Peters said.

Peters added, however, that officials also would have considered Balfour’s fairly clean record as a parolee and that he apparently still had a job. In addition, he said, jail and prison overcrowding often play a role in determining whether parole is revoked.

Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, were found in their home Friday afternoon. The body of Julian, who lived with the other victims, was found in the back of an SUV on Chicago’s West Side on Monday. Authorities declared his death a homicide Tuesday but would not say how long he had been dead.

In a message posted on her MySpace.com page Monday, Julian’s mother thanked people for their prayers and said her son’s “lil soul is at ease.”

“I take comfort in knowing that Julian is with my mother and my brother and most of all the Lord and now he’s my angel he’s protecting,” Julia Hudson wrote.

Jennifer Hudson, who won a best-supporting-actress Oscar last year for “Dreamgirls,” has thanked fans for their support on her MySpace page but has been in seclusion in Chicago.

Around the time the first bodies were found, Balfour’s parole agent had reached him by phone after Balfour missed a meeting with him that day. Balfour told the agent he was “baby-sitting on the West Side of Chicago,” according to internal parole records.

The agent said he thought he heard a child in the background during the call. Balfour was taken into custody later Friday.

The Illinois Department of Corrections issued a warrant for Balfour on Saturday for violating terms of his parole by possessing a weapon and failing to attend anger management counseling and a substance abuse program, according to his parole history report.

Criminal charges can send parolees back to prison and keep them there even if the counts are ultimately dropped. A board that reviews such cases after parolees are sent back to prison relies on a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than in court. The board considers the violence of the original crime, the parole agent’s recommendation, the arrest report, the parolee’s adjustment and his attitude during a follow-up interview in prison, among other things.

In Balfour’s case, a violation could have sent him back behind bars for a period as long as the remainder of his parole – until May 2009 – minus a day off for each day of good behavior. That would have meant a release date in mid-December at the earliest.

Parole records also show that a woman at Balfour’s home refused to open the door during an agent’s visit on Aug. 27. The woman told the agent during the 8:30 a.m. visit that Balfour was at work but Balfour’s boss told the agent he wasn’t due until noon.

“Agent heard other people inside the host site and suspected maybe suspicious activities going on,” the report said. “Agent will be following up for a possible warrant on parolee.”

Parolees must agree to allow agents to visit their homes and consent to searches. There’s no warrant mentioned in following days on the report, which does note, however, that Balfour passed a drug test.

Schnapp, the corrections spokesman, said the evidence again wasn’t sufficient to warrant revoking parole.

Despite a grim October chill, about 200 people gathered at the Hudson family home Monday night to pray and remember.

Tears streaming down her face, Denise Evans, who watched Jennifer Hudson grow up and whose brothers were friends with Jason Hudson, addressed the crowd.

“Stop the violence, people,” she begged.

Asked to join together in song, the crowd sang Jennifer Hudson’s hit “Spotlight” a capella.

A large shrine of stuffed animals, candles and homemade posters at the home, in the 7000 block of South Yale, continued growing. A smaller, similar shrine for 7-year-old Julian King appeared at South Kolin Avenue and West 13th Street, where the boy’s body was found Monday.

The Hudson family gathered to pray privately at the Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church.

At both shrines, people said they grew to love Hudson because of her raw talent and humility.

“She always said in interviews she kept grounded by coming back to the people she grew up with,” said Sharon Richardson, 42, holding a lit candle outside the Hudson home.

“Her dream finally came through and look at the thanks she got,” said Erica Bowdery, 25, at Julian’s shrine.

Jennifer Hudson identifies body of nephew

Holding on to each other, overcome by emotion, Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson and six relatives viewed a closed-circuit TV screen at the morgue Monday afternoon and identified a small boy as Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew Julian King.

The identification came from Hudson. “She said, ‘Yes, that is him,’ according to Sean Howard, a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office. “Jennifer Hudson was incredbly strong for her family, she was leader in that group and kept her composure.

“She felt like the Lord and saviour Jesus Christ was going to get her through that,” Howard added. “Those were her words.”

Julian’s mother was not there, he said.

The boy had been missing since Hudson’s mother and brother were found shot to death Friday in their Englewood home. Monday morning, a howling dog alerted neighbors in the 1300 block of South Kolin to a white Chevrolet Suburban, where police found Julian’s body on the floor of the back seat.

He had been shot at least once in the head, and he was wearing basketball shorts and a white T shirt, sources said. Police believe the boy was shot to death inside the Suburban.

The Suburban was taken to the Area 5 police headquarters, which has a garage where vehicles used in a major crime can be minutely inspected, sources said. A team of FBI forensics specialists were called to Area 5 for assistance, one source said.

Julian was missing when the bodies of Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson were found shot to death in their home in the 7000 block of South Yale Avenue. Jennifer Hudson had identified their bodies Saturday morning.

The boy’s stepfather, William Balfour, remains the primary suspect in the murders, police sources say. He is the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, who lived in the home with her brother Jason, 29, and mother, Darnell Donerson, 57. Julia Hudson is Julian’s mother and the sister of Jennifer Hudson.

Balfour was taken into custody at a girlfriend’s home hours after the bodies were found. Sources say the girlfriend contradicted his alibi. Police say they’ve also caught him in at least one other lie. Police were able to track his whereabouts Friday through cell phone records, sources said.

A neighbor on the block where Balfour was arrested remembers seeing a man he believes to be Balfour drive up in a white SUV and park on the block around noon — at least three hours after the slaying.

The resident said the driver first reached into the glove compartment, and then got out of the car carrying what appeared to be a bottle of liquor. He saw the man walk into the home where Balfour was arrested later in the day.

The driver was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and was looking over his shoulder as he walked down the block. The driver spent about 10 minutes inside the house. “He was acting suspicious.. . He (the boy) had to be in the car. I figure he had to be. I wished I had known.”

The Suburban pulled up on the block hours before the bodies were discovered, said the man, who has lived on the block 30 years.

Residents of the house where Balfour was arrested said officers rushed the house Friday evening, and Balfour was arrested in the backyard.

Balfour and Julia Hudson had been at the Yale home much earlier Friday and may have argued, police have been told. A family friend said Balfour had made threats against the family and Julian. Balfour’s mother has denied Balfour was at the home that day.

Balfour is being held for violating his parole on a 1999 conviction for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking, authorities said. He served nearly seven years in prison.

Balfour, 27, is considered a parole violator for being named a person of interest in the murders, said Januari Smith of the Illinois Department of Corrections. Parole for Balfour — whose friends call him “Flex” — was to end in May 2009.

Sources said police were hoping to find the body before charging him. Some officers searched for the boy on their own time over the weekend.

Jennifer Hudson and her family had offered $100,000 for the boy’s safe return, and her MySpace page had appealed for clues in the double-murder. Amber Alert signs blazed on Chicago highways asking people to watch for the boy.

After an intensive weekend search, police were called around 7 a.m. Monday after a couple’s dog kept barking near the Suburban at 1313 S. Kolin Ave.

The couple who reported the car, John and Lynette Louden said they were watching news on television Monday morning and Lynette wrote down the license plate of the SUV. The couple first noticed the white Suburban on Saturday morning.

John Louden was taking their chihuahua, Lil’ Man, out for a walk when the dog started barking unusually at the vehicle. “He has a very keen nose,’’ John Louden said.

He compared the license plate number to the one he had scribbed down from the news.

“When he came back in, he said, ‘It’s a match.’ I said, ‘Oh, God. I hope that child is not in there,’” Lynette Louden said.

“I came back in the house and told my wife to call 911,’’ John Louden said. Lynette Louden said police arrived in “two minutes.’’

Both are fans of Jennifer Hudson. Lynette Louden saw Hudson’s latest film, “The Secret Life of Bees,’’ on Friday night and expressed sympathy to Hudson’s family.

Meanwhile, a makeshift shrine to the boy was quicly erected on an apartment building near where the SUV was found. That shrine included balloons, newspaper pictures of child, and messages, including “RIP Julian” and “May God bless you and your family.’’

Jennifer Hudson flew to Chicago to help identify the bodies and was in seclusion over the weekend.

A standout singer at church and Dunbar Vocational High School, Hudson triumphed over rejection on “American Idol” and won an Academy Award for her role as Effie in the movie “Dreamgirls.”

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Oscar winner 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. The singer and actress was among seven family members and close friends who cried and held hands as they identified Julian King’s body from a live image on a television screen at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office Monday afternoon.

Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the boy, like his grandmother and uncle, had been shot. The medical examiner’s office planned a Tuesday autopsy.

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said a motive remained unclear Monday but added, “It wasn’t a case of a stranger-type homicide.”

Police have characterized the slayings as “domestic related” and authorities have been questioning the boy’s estranged stepfather, who is being held in state custody on a parole violation. No one has been charged in the slayings.

Julian’s body was found shortly after 7 a.m. in the rear seat of the SUV, which was parked on the street in a neighborhood of brownstone homes and apartment buildings about 10 miles from the home he shared with the other victims. The vehicle matched the one mentioned in an Amber Alert issued for Julian.

Hudson had offered $100,000 Sunday for information leading to the safe return of her nephew, the son of her sister, Julia Hudson. Hudson’s publicist did not immediately return calls and e-mail messages Monday.

“Miss Hudson wanted to request privacy,” Cook County spokesman Sean Howard said after the family left the medical examiner’s office. “This is a very trying time for her and her family.”

Hudson’s aunt, Dorothy Hudson, said the Chicago funeral home she owns with her husband will handle arrangements for the family, but details were pending.

“We’re just sad. We’re going through this stage where we’re just sad and in shock,” Dorothy Hudson said.

The Amber Alert had listed William Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, as a suspect in a “double homicide investigation.” He is not the boy’s father and has not been charged in the slayings.

Weis said Monday that Balfour “remains a person of interest.”

The chief said he was confident that with two crime scenes, investigators would find important clues.

Balfour, 27, was taken into custody for questioning Friday after the bodies of Hudson’s 57-year-old mother, Darnell Donerson, and 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, were found.

On Sunday, Balfour was transferred to the Illinois Department of Corrections, where a spokeswoman declined Monday to discuss his parole violation.

Corrections records show Balfour spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle. He was expected to remain in state custody until the Illinois Prisoner Review Board looked at his case.

Balfour’s mother, Michele Balfour, has said Hudson’s mother kicked Balfour out of the family home last winter. She denied her son had anything to do with the killings.

It was unclear whether Balfour had an attorney.

Lynette Louden, 47, said she called police about the SUV across the street from her home on Chicago’s West Side after her family’s Chihuahua started barking at it early Monday. Some neighbors said they hadn’t seen the vehicle before Monday, but Louden said it had been there since at least Saturday.

“I only hoped the body wasn’t in there,” she said. “When they said that it was, I cried.”

Weis said police were waiting for the autopsy to determine how long the boy had been dead, but estimated the vehicle was parked on the street “a couple of days.”

When asked how officers could have missed the SUV during their massive search, Weis noted that Chicago is a big city and that the vehicle was “several miles away from the first crime scene.”

Steve Peterson, head of the department’s Bureau of Investigative Services, said the search for the boy had been centered farther east based on information they had about where Balfour’s current girlfriend lives.

Hudson, 27, who won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in “Dreamgirls,” returned to Chicago to be with her family during the weekend. She also had identified the bodies of her mother and brother.

Neighbors and well-wishers brought stuffed animals and other items to a makeshift memorial outside Donerson’s two-story white clapboard home as news of Monday’s discovery spread. A candlelight vigil was planned Monday night.

A neighborhood anti-violence group signed up volunteers in front of the home and a boy gently placed a new brown teddy bear with the growing mound of tributes.

Eight-year-old Devontae Brown of Chicago said he and his mother brought the bear to the home because “it’s sad to be killing young brothers.”

Oscar-winning actress Jennifer 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.

City police transferred custody of the man labeled a “person of interest” in the shooting deaths to state authorities.

An Amber Alert remained in effect Sunday for young Julian King, who disappeared on Friday, the day the bodies of his grandmother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and 29-year-old uncle Jason Hudson were found in the home they all shared on the city’s South Side. The deaths were ruled homicides.

The Amber Alert listed William Balfour, the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson’s sister, Julia Hudson, as a suspect in a “double homicide investigation.” Julia Hudson is the missing boy’s mother

Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said authorities considered Balfour a “person of interest” in the case but he had not been charged.

Authorities said the search for Julian would be citywide, but on Sunday residents and officers focused their efforts “in the immediate vicinity” of the family’s home in the Englewood section, said police spokesman Dan O’Brien.

Police said they did not have a motive for the killings but called the case “domestic related.”

“There’s a lot of forensic evidence. We have to work the evidence and try and solve this case,” Bond said Sunday. “Most importantly, we want to find the child.”

Bond said no weapon had been found at the Hudson home, a three-story house sandwiched by vacant lots littered with trash. On Sunday, investigators moved in and out of the home and examined the trash.

Police officers were instructed to place fliers with Julian King’s picture and description in every business in the area.

Jennifer Hudson, who won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in “Dreamgirls, was in Chicago with her family during the weekend, her sister said. A publicist did not disclose her whereabouts.

In a MySpace blog entry on Sunday, Hudson said she was grateful for community support and posted a picture of her sister’s son.

“Thank you all for your prayers and your calls. Please keep praying for our family and that we get Julian King back home safely,” the blog entry said. “If anyone has any information about his whereabouts please contact the authorities immediately … Once again thank you all for being there for us through this tough time.”

Bond said Balfour, who had been in police custody since Friday, was transferred Sunday to the Illinois Department of Corrections “based on his active parole violation unrelated to this investigation.”

Records from the corrections department show Balfour, 27, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle.

Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith said Balfour would likely remain in state custody until the Illinois Prisoner Review Board looked at his case. She would not say exactly where Balfour was being held.

It was unclear if Balfour had an attorney to speak for him Sunday, but his mother, Michele Balfour, has denied that he was involved the killings or in Julian’s disappearance.

During a public plea Saturday for the boy’s return, Julia Hudson described her son as a smart, sensitive and easygoing child.

“He’s not your typical 7-year-old,” she told a crowd at the family’s Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side. She was joined by the boy’s father, Greg King.

Hudson said she last saw her son Thursday night when they went out to dinner to celebrate her 31st birthday. Afterward, she said, she took Julian to the home she shared with her mother and brother, handed him to his grandmother and everyone went to sleep.

Julia Hudson said Saturday that she was confident her son was still alive and that she was praying for his return.

“Momma’s looking for you. I’m not going to stop until you come home,” she said.

Jennifer Hudson’s Sister’s Plea: ‘Just Let My Baby Go’

One day after Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother were found shot to death in their Chicago home – and her nephew Julian King was kidnapped – the Oscar winner’s sister Julia made an impassioned plea for her son’s return.

“I don’t care who you are, just let the baby go,” Julia Hudson said in a press conference held at the Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church on Saturday. “I just want my son. He don’t deserve this.”

An Amber Alert was issued for the boy, Julian King, 7, on Friday and named Julia Hudson’s estranged husband, William Balfour, 27, as a suspect in the slayings. Balfour is in police custody for questioning, but no charges have been filed.

An autopsy confirmed that Darnell Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, died of gunshot wounds.

“It hurts,” Julia Hudson said of her mother and brother’s deaths. “We’re in a state of shock. I don’t know what else to do but pray.”

With the boy’s father, Greg King, by her side, Julia Hudson asked the public to keep an eye out for him, mentioning that he responds to nicknames like “Juice Box” and “Dr. King.” “He’s out there. Just let him go,” she said. Addressing her son, she added: “I love you. Mama’s looking for you.”

Julia added that sister Jennifer, 27, the Oscar-winning star of Dreamgirls and an American Idol alum, had flown in to be by her side as soon as she heard the tragic news. She said that upon hearing the news, Jennifer, “was screaming” and “flew in right away.”

Julian had been at his grandmother’s house on Friday and the two were, Julia said, “extremely close.”

“I worked, so he was always with her, day in and day out,” she said. “She did everything for him. She got him ready for school. She got him ready for bed.”

The Chicago FBI office confirmed to PEOPLE on Sunday that the agency is involved in the search for the boy.

“I can confirm that we have been asked to provide assistance to the Chicago police department to assist in the search for 7-year-old Julian King,” said Ross Rice, special agent and spokesman for the Chicago office of FBI.

When asked whether they had any promising leads, Ross declined to comment. “The key word there is assisting. It is still a Chicago police investigation, both the murder and the kidnapping, and any announcements would be best to come from them.”

And on Sunday morning, Jennifer Hudson updated her MySpace page with recent photos of her nephew and a statement from her family: “Thank you all for your prayers and your calls. Please keep praying for our family and that we get Julian King back home safely. If anyone has any information about his whereabouts please contact the authorities immediately. Here is a picture of Julian and what he was last seen wearing. Once again thank you all for being there for us through this tough time.”

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