Posted: Dec Wed 2008 12:44 PM CST
Jennifer Hudson’s Brother-in-law Arrested For Shootings
Jennifer Hudson’s brother-in-law has been arrested by Chicago police in connection with the deaths of her mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew.
William Balfour was arrested from the Stateville Correctional Center, where he’d been held for some time on suspected parole violation (which seems to be code for “we need to keep him but can’t officially charge him yet”).
Handed over to custody of detectives
Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond confirmed that he was handed over to the custody of detectives, where he awaited formal charges in the killings of Jennifer Hudson’s family members.
The bodies of two of those family members-Hudson’s mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson-were found on Oct 24 at the family home in Chicago’s South Side. The body of Julian King, 7, was found in an SUV on the West Side three days later.
Until this Monday, Dec 1, 27-year-old William Balfour was only referred to by police as a “person of interest” in the case. Monday evening changed that.
The day the bodies were found
Balfour was originally taken into custody the same day that the bodies of Hudson’s mother and brother were found. But police can only hold a person for 48 hours without formal charges, and they were forced to move him after this amount of time. The Illinois Department of Corrections eventually took him in for suspected parole violation. He’s been in custody ever since.
He was 7-year-old Julian’s stepfather and the separated husband of Jennifer Hudson’s older sis Julia. He’s already served seven years, for a 1999 conviction of attempted murder and vehicular hijacking.
His mother denies involvement
His mother, Michelle Balfour, has continued to deny her son’s involvement with the shootings. Balfour himself, meanwhile, has stopped cooperating with police, and refused to take a lie-detector test, according to an anonymous police source.
The gun used in the killings was found by police on Oct. 29. It’s a .45-calibre firearm, found in a vacant lot in the West Side neighbourhood where the boy’s body was found. Although they’ve confirmed this much, police have not publicised further discussion of evidence.
The gun key evidence
The Chairman of the Ilinois Prisoner Review Board, Jorge Montes, told reporters that the gun was key evidence in deciding to hold Balfour based on probable cause that he did, in fact, violate parole. He’ll remain in custody until a hearing today (Dec. 3).
Balfour did not have an attorney at the last hearing, and there is no indication that he has one now. The public defender’s office said that no representation had been assigned to him yet because he hadn’t been officially charged.
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