CHICAGO — Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew was found dead in the back of a sport utility vehicle 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 an image on a television screen at the Cook County medical examiner’s office on Monday afternoon.
Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the boy, like his grandmother and uncle, had been shot. The medical examiner’s office planned an autopsy today.
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 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 a 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.
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 William 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.
