Following the brutal killings of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew, William Balfour, the Academy Award-winning actress’ brother-in-law, gained nationwide notoriety, as he was police’s lone and prime suspect.

Although he had been named a “person of interest” in the case, authorities did not charge him with the murders in anticipation of further evidence. Investigators searched the SUV in which the body of Jennifer Hudson’s young nephew was discovered for fingerprints and analyzed the murder weapon as well in order to substantiate their suspicions, but they could only detain William Balfour for parole violation.

Nevertheless, more than one month after the killings took place, police arrested Julia Hudson’s estranged husband in the shooting deaths of Jennifer Hudson’s relatives.

The 27-year-old man was arrested on Monday at Stateville Correctional Center, where he had been in custody for parole violation, on a warrant accusing him of murdering three of the actress’ family members.

In spite of the fact that all clues pointed to William Balfour, the suspect’s attorney said on Monday night that his client claimed that he was innocent.

Joshua Kutnick informed reporters that William Balfour had fervently rejected the allegations, highlighting the fact that “any evidence pointing to Mr. Balfour is not even thin. It is very, very weak.”

The bodies of the “Dreamgirls” star’s 57-year-old mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, were found on October 24 at their residence on the South Side of Chicago, while the remains of 7-year-old Julian King were discovered three days later in an abandoned SUV that belonged to one of the victims.

William Balfour was taken into custody the same day the first two bodies were found and was transferred to the Illinois Department of Corrections a couple of days later due to parole violation. He had been on parole after spending seven years behind bars for a 1999 attempted murder and vehicular hijacking conviction.

William Balfour had also refused to take a polygraph test and had avoided cooperating with police, The Associated Press cited an anonymous source as saying.

Investigators found the murder weapon, a .45-caliber gun, on October 29 in an empty lot close to the spot where Julian King’s body had been discovered.

Some witnesses say they spotted William Balfour at the family’s house the same day the slayings occurred, while his girlfriend admits to having seen him carrying a gun similar to the murder weapon. Family members told police that William Balfour had threatened Julia Hudson several times before he was asked to leave the family home, according to the Chicago Tribune.

William Balfour’s mother, Michelle Davis-Balfour, told reporters on Monday that authorities had not gathered sufficient evidence so as to file any murder charges against her son. “They don’t have nothing,” she said.