Jennifer Hudson, born in 1981, is an Oscar-winning actress, a singer and a model. As a singer, she first entered the public eye as a finalist on the third season of “American Idol”. Her Academy Award is due to her outstanding performance in the movie “Dreamgirls”. The movie also earned her a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award and a SAG Award.

Jennifer Hudson recently went through a tragedy hard to grasp by everyone. On October 24th of this year, both her mother and brother were found dead in their Chicago home. Everything indicated that they had died from gunshot wounds. The drama reached bigger proportions when Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, was nowhere to be found. Everyone thought and hoped that Julian’s mother Julia, who is Jennifer Hudson’s sister, had taken her son into hiding. The main suspect in the case was Julia King’s former husband, a man by the name of William Balfour. During the time of the murders and the investigation, William Balfour was on parole after spending seven years in jail for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen vehicle.

The neighbors testified that in the Hudson home there had been domestic violence situations. According to the testimonies, the investigators reached the conclusion that the killings were a direct result of an argument involving domestic violence. It is believed that the tensions escalated to a boiling point which resulted in the unfortunate event.

Regrettably, Julian King was not in the safe arms of his parents, Julia and Greg King, as the rest of the Hudson relatives had hoped. The body of the 7-year-old child was found in an SUV in Chicago’s West Side. The coroner’s assessment was that Julian King had also died because of multiple gunshot wounds.

The memorial service for the three was a private affair, organized by the Hudson Funeral Home, ran by members of Jennifer Hudson’s family. The funeral was held in Chicago, and participation was conditioned by an invitation. Because many people had watched the case, Jennifer Hudson agreed to also hold a small public service, allowing the public to pay their respects to her deceased family members.

William Balfour is still in custody and will not be released. Beside the triple homicide suspicion, William Balfour appears to have also violated his parole. This was indicated by his girlfriend’s testimony that Balfour had a gun in his possession and was also present in places were drugs were sold. The suspect protested against the evidence held against him, and was not represented by a lawyer.

On December 3rd there will be a new hearing, in order to establish if the suspect’s parole should be revoked or not. Another testimony from his girlfriend states that Balfour confessed he had killed the members of Jennifer Hudson’s family. Under police questioning, Balfour only admitted to being present on the Hudson home on the morning of the killings.