Police: Possibility of Multiple Suspects in Hudson Killings

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 29, 2008 2:00PM

As police try to piece together what happened Friday in the triple homicide that claimed the lives of actress Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew, some evidence points to multiple perps involved in the killings. It appears as if someone may have driven suspect William Balfour back to the West Side the afternoon after the murders, possibly with Julian King in tow.

Witnesses said Balfour drove his teal Chrysler to the Hudsons' block Friday, arriving about 7 a.m. But later the vehicle was discovered by police parked about a mile away outside Robeson High School. Balfour's girlfriend told police that he was at her West Side home not long after the slayings of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and the Oscar-winning actress' brother, Jason, at their Englewood home, sources said...

Security video at the South Side high school showed someone parking the Chrysler on Friday, but investigators have not been able to determine the person's identity from the images, the sources said. A time stamp on the video showed the car was left there at 12:30 p.m. Friday, but it was unclear whether the stamp was accurate, sources said.

Police have also used cell phone records to track Balfour's movements on Friday and, regardless of who drove what car, it appears as if Balfour didn't use his own car to travel from the Englewood residence of Hudson's mother to his girlfriend's West Side home Friday morning after the shootings. The white SUV in which Julian King's body was found was discovered approximately 13 miles from the Hudson home. Police had previously revealed that Balfour had been arrested on drug charges this summer but was not returned to prison for parole violation. And in the most chilling detail so far, Balfour skipped a Friday appointment with his parole officer because he was "babysitting" on the West Side.