New clue points to Hudson relative in killings

updated 4:55 p.m. ET Oct. 28, 2008

CHICAGO - The estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister missed a parole meeting the same day that Hudson's mother and brother were killed, parole records show. William Balfour, who is in custody and considered a person of interest, had been arrested in June for cocaine possession, but state officials did not revoke his parole on an earlier conviction.

The records surfaced as officials declared that Hudson's 7-year-old nephew was also the victim of a homicide, having been shot several times. Julian King's body was found Monday.

Balfour is being held on an unrelated parole violation. No one has been charged with the killings.

Corrections Department spokesman Derek Schnapp said officials who reviewed the cocaine-possession case against Balfour determined "the evidence that was presented during that time wouldn't have necessarily warranted a violation."

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

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 the documents, obtained by The Associated Press.

AFP-Getty Images This photo released by the Illinois Department of Corrections shows William Balfour.

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

Balfour, Julian's stepfather and the estranged husband of Hudson's sister, served seven years for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking.

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.

On Monday, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said she expected to soon have "some evidence that will link us to the killer." She added that surveillance cameras throughout the city may have captured images that would help the investigation.

Hudson 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.

The boy was found dead earlier Monday in the back of an SUV, ending a frantic search that began after the shooting deaths of Hudson's mother and brother three days earlier.

Police chief: Not 'stranger-type homicide'
Weis said a motive remained unclear. Police have characterized the slayings as "domestic related" and authorities have been questioning Balfour.

"It wasn't a case of a stranger-type homicide," Weis said.

Julian's body was found early Monday 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 his home. The SUV had been the subject of an Amber Alert issued Friday after Hudson's mother and brother were found slain.

The Amber Alert had listed Balfour as a suspect in a "double homicide investigation." He is not the boy's father.

Balfour 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.

Weis said Monday that Balfour "remains a person of interest."

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.

SUV there several days?
Weis 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."

Video   Police ID body Oct. 27: Chicago police positively identify the body found in a parked SUV as that of Julian King, nephew of Jennifer Hudson. MSNBC

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 started out on "American Idol" and 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.

At a candlelight vigil Monday night, hundreds of people gathered outside the Englewood home where the two bodies were found. They sang, held hands and cried in the cold as they contributed to an expanding memorial of stuffed animals, balloons and flowers.

"It pains all of us to know three lives are gone and we don't know why," said Doris Jones, who lives in the neighborhood.

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