Jennifer Hudson Offers Reward For Julian King's Safe Return: Body Found in SUV, May be King's

This is making me ill. ChicagoTribune online is saying it's a child's body.....Lord, I hope not. I can't even fathom the kind of mind it takes, to kill a child.

So sad.... I will never understand how someone can do this. I am always still amazed at how surprised I am, when I really shouldn't be surprised anymore at all. I guess I had just been hoping that things would turn out differently this time. My heart breaks for what that child saw and endured the last hours of his short life.

How horrible! It is always awful when an innocent child is murdered. My prayers go out to Jennifer and her family. I cannot imagine the suffering they are going through right now.

I agree, Reannan....I'm still amazed as well, even though I shouldn't be. It has been said that Balfour recently "threatened he would take the child away." Interesting, considering he isn't the child's father, and the father was on the news yesterday. Piece of crap....

I am not surprised - This is HORRIFIC - however, when I heard the child was missing - my first thought was that the child saw everything and can identify the fiends that did this - I just had a horrible, nauseating, sinking feeling that the killer(s) couldn't let the child live and that the child wouldn't be found alive.

Our community is grieving - it is a "down on my knees" prayer that this will be brought to the light immediately and justice will be served.

We need to surround this family with unconditional love, prayer, support and kindness.

This is so awful. I have a son named Julian too, and this news hit hard. But I have to say, what the fuck is wrong with Chicago? This Suburban was on a regular neighborhood street for THREE DAYS?? There was a BOLO on the vehicle and an Amber Alert for the little boy and no one noticed this Suburban? No one in the neighborhood thought, "Oh, I wonder if that is the vehicle they're looking for," no passing cop thought "There it is." What are they, all asleep at the wheel?

Larkin, I'm seeing differing accounts of how long this truck had been there. One person said it had to have been left there after 3 am today, another said it was as early as Saturday. Either way, Balfour was in custody well before the truck was deposited there. Also, it was within FIVE miles of the home! If it WAS there the entire weekend, then Chicago cops are pretty freaking blind. And I'm not sure that is the case.

Oh that's so sad. I wonder why he was killed and all of them. If only they could've gotten to him sooner. Too many hours have passed and the people who kidnapped him obviously aren't afraid of using their guns on innocent people they'd do the same to the boy. :( Ms Hudson's sister is lucky to be a live. I wonder if an attempt was made on her.

Ramona- He might have necessarily have seen it. Just because he was there doesn't mean he saw enough. He could've been in another part of the house or a guest room or a room he has when he's staying there with his relatives. So it isn't always true. They did kidnap him I think to be on the "safe" side to make sure he couldn't have told or possibly to get money so it depends on where he was before that claim can be made. So with his kidnapping that makes me wonder even more if it was someone who at least knew the family if not that brother in law since we now know what his record for jail was and it did involve attempted murder (I believe). So this guy isn't afraid of killing either whether it was him or he hired people to do it. I'll be interested in seeing what the police say about everything once all the info is released.

About the suburban you need warrants for this as well with probable cause. Now days police carry computers in their cars so they can get the warrants pretty quickly sent to their computers and printed out later and all that. I would see how popular this type of car is in the area. If it was really popular you can't just go and look at every single car that matches the description. You need probable cause before you can do that. I'm sure majority of the people would be willing to let you search their car but if the person isn't around etc. you have to get a warrant and a judge has to sign it etc. So who knows why. It'd be interesting to ask the police that question.

Soobs, that's an interesting angle, perhaps it wasn't there the whole time. Which certainly gives you pause, considering that Balfour has been in custody since Friday, so he certainly didn't drive it there if it recently appeared.

The lag in delaying the identity of the child found is disconcerting. Three days is significant in terms of decomposition, but not usually to the point that you can't make a visual id. What in God's name happened to that poor kid?

Emily, again, an astonishing post. Once the vehicle is being actively sought, there would have been a standing warrant. They're not going to search for the vehicle and THEN track down a judge. And yes, you can (and do) go out and look for Every Single Vehicle that matches the description, particularly as they believed a child's life hung in the balance.

Larkin, I just read that the family is on the way to the morgue, to identify the body. That's probably why they are waiting to "officially" identify him.

Emily, even if the police can't enter the vehicle, they certainly CAN look in a window. If that vehicle has been parked for the weekend in the same place (again, conflicting reports) then they, anyone, had the ability to look inside to see if the boy was in there. And it doesn't appear that the body had been hidden, according to my understanding from the reports.

This kind of domestic violence happens every day, somewhere in the country. How do you most hurt a spouse? Not by killing her, but by depriving her of her child, her mother, her brother. More's the question, how and why do women get mixed up with crazy SOB's like this one? I'm glad Julia and Jennifer weren't home or they'd be dead, too.

This is domestic violence, people. It's not they or them, it's him. No matter what neighborhood you live in or where you're from, what your race or how much is in your bank account, educate yourself on domestic and relationship violence. Get out of denial, stop worrying about gays and praying, and each your kids early on that no one owns them and no one should control them and when someone doesn't want to be with you, you move on and heal. You do not kill people and take out their families. Utterally disgusting and pathetic. Please, for the love of God, stop this senseless killing.

Chicago Trib has posted that the body was that of little Julian King.

Diane, you are preaching to the choir, here.

I had a very bad feeling when this kid went missing after the murder of his family. I was really hoping he would be found ok. I can't begin to imagine the hell his mom and aunt are going through right now.

Soobs, any clearer reports concerning whether the SUV had been in the location it was found for a while? It will be telling to know if the SUV was just parked there recently.

Not that I can find, D.P. I'm sure it will be answered soon, however.

According to Jody Weiss, Chicago Police Chief, the Suburban was found at 1313 S Kolin. It was reported at 7am. You can go to the Trib's website @ www.chicagotribune.com to view breaking news.

Soobs,
TMZ (ugh) reported that Jennifer Hudson went to the ME to identify the boy. But if that truly had been the case, we would have had confirmation much earlier. From the description of injuries (multiple gun shot wounds) and the long wait before confirmation, it seems that they were probably unable to do a visual id, and were awaiting DNA analysis for confirmation. If this is indeed the case, no ME would put any family member through seeing that. Which is not to say that the family would not have gone to the ME's office to discuss what was happening. I surely would if it were my child. It's a terrible outcome, I had truly hoped for a different ending to this sad, sad, story.

Larkin- I'm sure they can get a warrant that says to search all the cars similar to the one who took the boy. So was the car not there all weekend and just showed up recently? Does anyone know how popular this type of car is in that area? Also, I think you're probably right they used DNA especially if his body was so mutilated such as by bullets or some such. If I was a mother who went through a situation like that I too would go no matter how painful it would be even just to have one last look at your child.

Soobs- Right. They can look in the window and by doing that they'll of course use the natural course of events and see the boy there or at least items there that could have been used in the ordeal and that would be enough for a warrant. It's like how if a police officer stops someone for a traffic violation and sees them drinking and takes them out of the car and smells pot smoke they can then have their probable cause to get a warrant. I hope I wasn't too confusing. :)

Anne- I think you're right. Especially if the mother is very close to the son like she and Ms Hudson appears to be close to the boy as well. I think this is probably more about Ms Hudson since her mother and brother were also killed. I wonder where the sister was at the time. Does anyone know if she's been questioned yet?

The family chose to view the body via video rather than in person. The Suburban was reported by a 75 yo man who was walking his dog. He recognized it and the license plate number from news reports. He said it was an unfamiliar vehicle on the street. BTW, I live in Chicago and read the Trib.

Emily Booth- Hey it's another Emily. :) Cool. Ah I understand a family wanting to look at the body via video. Did you ever hear about the condition of his body when it was found? So sad for the little boy what trauma he must've gone through. I wonder if he saw his grandmother and uncle get killed. :( I'm glad the man reported the vehicle. :D Ah so that type of vehicle isn't very popular in the area? Did it have a Chicago license plate?

TMZ reports that William Balfour's dad is doing 30 years for murder.

Very interesting Anne. I wonder how influential Mr Balfour's dad was on his life?