Yuku free message boards

UPDATE: Sources say that police have told the Hudson family that the body found on Chicago's West Side is that of 7-year-old Julian King.

Hudson relatives were expected to go to the Cook County medical examiner's office this afternoon, according to a spokesman for the office. Hudson's security detail informed the office that a group would be headed there from a downtown hotel.

The body was found in the back seat of the white Chevrolet Suburban police were looking for in their search for Julian, three days after actress-singer Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother were found shot to death in the mother's house in Englewood.

Law enforcement sources said that the boy was shot multiple times in the back of the vehicle. Police are testing the clothing of a man in custody for gunshot residue.

Police Supt. Jody Weis planned to hold a press conference at 4 p.m. today.

Police arrived at the Suburban with Illinois license plate X584859 before 8 a.m. in the 1300 block of South Kolin Avenue, after receiving a call of a suspicious vehicle.

It was found by a 75-year-old who lives on the block, John Louden. He said he has lived on the block for 18 years and worried about people selling drugs in the abandoned building behind it. He saw the SUV while walking his dog. After a double-take, he realized the license plate matched the one police were looking for.

"I didn't look in there. I didn't touch it. I knew it was a strange vehicle," Louden said. He said police showed up in about five minutes after his wife called them. They discovered the child inside. The body was removed and the SUV was towed away for evidence processing. "I feel bad about that baby," Louden said.

As the car was processed by evidence technicians and workers at the Cook County Medical Examiner's office sought to identify the body, Hudson's family members and supporters assumed this was the third member of her family killed since Friday.

"It's shocking. It's unreal. We had been praying that it would not come to this," said Rev. Krista Alston, a cousin of Hudson and a minister at the Pleasant Gift Baptist Church in Chicago. "We know it's a reality now, but it's still shocking."

Police found the bodies of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, on Friday afternoon after a family member came to their home in the 7000 block of South Yale Avenue and saw signs of violence inside. The murders sparked a manhunt for William Balfour, 27, and a search for 7-year-old Julian King.

Balfour, the estranged husband of the boy's mother, Julia Hudson, was brought in for questioning Friday night. He was initially described by police as a suspect in the investigation.

The boy remained missing through a long weekend in which police and volunteers posted fliers around the city with pictures of the boy. On Sunday, his actress aunt--grieving and rushing to Chicago from Florida where she was promoting a film--offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who found the boy.

Police searched Balfour's girlfriend's house for several hours Friday night after taking him into custody. Her home is located about 2.5 miles from where the SUV was found this morning.

Balfour has denied involvement in the killings or the disappearance of the boy, law-enforcement sources said. But at some point, Balfour stopped talking to authorities, sources told the Tribune.

On Sunday morning, Balfour was transferred to a state facility after officials said he violated conditions of parole for a 1999 conviction for attempted murder. On Sunday, Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith said Balfour violated his parole because he is a suspect in the slayings and the boy's disappearance.

According to law-enforcement sources, Balfour's alibi the day of the killings has been contradicted by his girlfriend.

Balfour and Julia Hudson had been separated for some time, his family members said. A family friend said Balfour recently had threatened to take Julian away.

A family member of the girlfriend's said police have interviewed her. Police also tracked Balfour's whereabouts Friday through his cell phone, sources said.

-- Joel Hood, Stacy St. Clair, Dan Blake, Angela Rozas, David Heinzmann, James Janega and Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune