Hudson ID's Julian, Balfour Still In Custody

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 28, 2008 2:15PM

For the third time in three days, Chicago native and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson identified a murder victim as a family member. This time, it was her 7-year-old nephew Julian King, telling the medical examiner, "Yes, that's him." As of this morning, William Balfour remains in police custody, and while he has not been charged, he seems to remain the primary suspect in the case. Police report William had been answering questions but stopped cooperating when offered a lie-detector test. His MySpace page declares him husband to Julia and step-father to Julian, and police are still looking at the crime as the culmination of an ongoing domestic dispute over a car.

In another incident, sources said, Julia Hudson arrived Friday morning at Sunrise Bus Co. on payday and discovered her wages had been garnished because of unpaid car payments. Sources said Balfour had taken her car months earlier but promised to make the payments on the vehicle. After seeing her pay stub, Julia Hudson called Balfour to complain about the unpaid bills, sources said.

Balfour has also reportedly threatened Julia about having other boyfriends in spite of the fact he has other girlfriends. Balfour had previously been thrown out of the Hudson family home by Jennifer's mother and brother.

Police still believe that Balfour came to the home of Darnell Donerson Friday morning and opened fire, shooting Jason Hudson through the front door, then going inside and shooting Donerson. There were no signs of forced entry and Balfour's alibi was contradicted by a girlfriend, who also told police that Balfour was involved. Police were also able to track Balfour's movements on Friday afternoon via his cell phone records. Until police can get a definitive charge to stick on Balfour, he's being held on violation of his parole stemming from a 1999 attempted murder charge. He married Julia King in December 2006 but the two split in May of this year; Balfour told Donerson he wasn't reconciling and instead decided to move on with a pregnant girlfriend.

Image of Julian taken from Jennifer Hudson's MySpace page