Jennifer Hudson expressed her heartfelt gratitude Thursday for the public support she’s received since last month’s tragic loss of her mother, brother and nephew.

“I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” the Oscar winner, 27, wrote on her MySpace Celebrity blog under the heading, “Thank You All.”

And, in true star form, the show will go on. Hudson recently gave her blessing to a scheduled appearance in Gap’s seasonal ad campaign, according to E! Online.

Who’s your Favorite Star Under 35? PEOPLE.com and the People’s Choice Awards are counting your votes! Click here to vote now!

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Donald Trump doesn’t just have the golden touch for business - he also has a heart of gold.

The real-estate mogul has been housing Jennifer Hudson and some of her relatives at the Trump International Hotel %26 Tower free of charge.

“She’s a great girl. And we’re protecting them well,” Trump told PEOPLE at a benefit honoring Australia director Baz Luhrman at the Museum of Modern Art Monday night. “They are very safe.”

Hudson has been seeking refuge at the Trump holding since her mother, brother and nephew were murdered in Chicago on Oct. 24.

Trump’s largesse was first reported by E! Online.
- Jeffrey Slonim

Source:www.People.com

William Balfour - the “person of interest” in the slayings of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew - is due in court Monday, when officials will determine whether he should remain in custody or be set free.

The 27-year-old Balfour, who is Hudson’s brother-in-law, has not been charged. But he remains the only person police have named in the case. “As far as our investigation, there are no new developments at this time,” Chicago Police spokesman John Mirabelli said Sunday.

Balfour was picked up by police on Oct. 24 - the day the bodies of Hudson’s mother Darnell Donerson and brother Jason Hudson were discovered - and sent to a state prison for a parole violation.

At 9 a.m. Monday, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board will consider if evidence in the Hudson case demonstrates that Balfour violated the terms of his release for a 1999 conviction on attempted murder and carjacking charges. If not, he could be released as the investigation continues.

Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, were shot to death in the family’s home on Chicago’s South Side. The body of Julian Hudson (the 7-year-old son of Jennifer Hudson’s sister, Julia) was found three days later in the back seat of Jason’s Chevrolet Suburban.

(Police has linked all three murders to a handgun found about a block from the abandoned SUV.)

Balfour has said he was at the Hudson home on the morning Donerson and Jason Hudson were shot, and his current girlfriend allegedly told police that admitted he was involved, police sources told the Chicago Tribune.

Meanwhile, Balfour’s estranged wife, Julia, paid tribute to her mother - who would have turned 58 on Nov. 7 - with a MySpace message that reads, “Happy Birthday Mama!!!!!”

Source:www.People.com

Jennifer Hudson kissed her mother goodbye during a heartfelt private service for her slain family members in Chicago on Monday.

The Oscar-winning actress spent a few moments at the caskets of her brother and nephew, and gently touched the body of her mother before leaning down to kiss her, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Toward the end of the service, American Idol’s season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino sang a rousing rendition of the gospel classic “Your Grace and Mercy.” During the song, she walked into the aisle where she took Hudson’s hand and sang directly to her.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley both spoke at the service. After the funeral, a horse-drawn carriage led the procession to the cemetery.

Police discovered the bodies of Hudson’s mother and brother on Oct. 24, and her nephew’s three days later.

Though no one has been charged, police have classified Jennifer’s brother-in-law, William Balfour, as “a person of interest.”

The Hudson family members will be buried at Oak Woods Cemetery on the South Side of Chicago.

Source:www.People.com

On Sunday night, friends and family paid their respects to Jennifer Hudson’s slain mother, Darnell Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and nephew Julian Hudson in a public memorial service at the Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church near their Chicago home.

Flanked by three of her students, Carmen Williams, Julian’s second grade teacher, spoke poignantly about the bubbly 7-year-old, and read a few comments from students’ journals.

“I’m sad he didn’t get to be President,” one child lamented, while others remembered a generous and funny boy who loved to tell knock-knock jokes and play Power Rangers.

Shari Sweat, a cousin, focused on Darnell, remembering a woman who was proud of her academic background and loved the song, “From Out of Nowhere, Jesus Found Me.”

“She was gentle, special and loving,” Sweat said.

Another relative, Rev. Quentin Washington, recalled Jason as a caring, churchgoing man who encouraged him to pursue his career as a minister.

“They are all in Heaven having a ‘hallelujah good time,’ ” he said. “Their lives … were not in vain. Their legacies live on.”

Police discovered the bodies of Hudson’s mother, 57, and brother, 29, on Oct. 24, and her nephew’s three days later. Though no one has been charged, police have classified Jennifer’s brother-in-law, William Balfour, as “a person of interest.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer and her sister, Julian’s mother Julia Hudson, have established the Hudson King Foundation for Families of Slain Victims in honor of their loved ones.

“The specific purpose of the Foundation is to care for the needs of families who have lost relatives to a violent crime,” according to Jennifer’s MySpace page.”Thank you for your continued support.”

Source:www.People.com

Jennifer Hudson’s family announced Thursday a new foundation for families of murder victims.

The Hudson-King Foundation for Families of Slain Victims is named in honor of the singer-actress’s slain mother Darnell Hudson Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and nephew Julian King.

“The specific purpose of the Foundation is to care for the needs of families who have lost relatives to a violent crime,” the family says in a statement. “This encompasses their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter as well as grief counseling.”

Donations to the Hudson-King Foundation can be sent:
c/o Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson, LLP
Attn: William L. Abrams, Esq.
237 West 35th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10001

“Jennifer sang her first song in this church - she said her first prayer in this church,” her cousin Shari Nichols Witt said of the Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church. Witt also spoke fondly of the actress-singer’s slain nephew, saying 7-year-old Julian King “seemed like he was ahead of his time.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke at the vigil, told PEOPLE that Hudson, 27, and her family “are overwhelmed by the suddenness and the unexpectedness of it all. This family knows triumph, and they also know tragedy.”

As the community grieved the loss of the Dreamgirls star’s relatives, the 27-year-old parolee considered a suspect in their shooting deaths, William Balfour, remained in police custody Thursday.

Balfour - the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister Julia - was being held on an alleged parole violation.

• Reported by JULIE JORDAN, NIKITTA FOSTON and HILARY SHENFELD

Source:www.People.com

After losing her mother, brother, and nephew last weekend, Jennifer Hudson is receiving support from an old friend - Ryan Seacrest.

“We’re praying for her,” the American Idol host told PEOPLE at the LA Confidential party celebrating the magazine’s cover story on Seacrest Wednesday night. “I sent her an email to share my sorrow for what she went through and asked her if there was anything we could do,” says Seacrest, who watched Hudson’s journey from Idol finalist to Oscar-winning success. “It’s horrible.”

He’s not the only one from the Idol family who is feeling for Jennifer after her tragic loss.

Seacrest says he didn’t know Hudson’s family well, but is confident she will pull through.

“I know Jennifer and I always liked her spirit, her strength, her charm, her charisma. She’s a strong girl and a special girl.”

• Reporting by KIMBERLY LANSING

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William Balfour - the man considered a suspect in the shooting deaths of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew - could have been spending the past few months in jail.

The 27-year-old parolee - who served seven years for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking - was busted June 19, when cops reportedly discovered crack cocaine on the driver’s seat of his car, the Associated Press reports.

But despite his arrest, the corrections department declined to revoke his parole, allowing him to remain on the streets.

The charges were eventually dropped. But, the wire service notes, a felony arrest alone can often be sufficient reason to return a parolee to prison.

Balfour - the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister Julia - is now in custody on a parole violation, this time for possessing a weapon and failing to get treatment for anger management or substance abuse issues.

No one has been charged in the deaths of Hudson’s mother, 57-year-old Darnell Donerson, brother, 29-year-old Jason Hudson, or her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King.

The boy’s mother, Julia Hudson, took to her MySpage page Tuesday to vent her grief on the tragedy.

“Because I chose … to love someone, it cost me my beautiful family,” she wrote.

As for her son, Julian, whose body was discovered Monday (and whose death has been ruled a homicide), Julia says his “soul is at ease.” She concluded, “I take comfort in knowing that Julian is with my mother and my brother and most of all the lord … Now he’s my angel.”

RELATED GALLERY:
• Read about more murder cases that shocked the nation on the covers of PEOPLE

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Julian King, the 7-year-old nephew of Jennifer Hudson, died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death has been ruled a homicide, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said Tuesday.

“We’re not releasing anything else,” said ME spokesman Sean Howard. “We possibly have a criminal out there and we have to maintain discretion.”

King, the son of Hudson’s sister, Julia, was found dead in the back seat of a white SUV vehicle on Chicago’s South Side Monday. Three days earlier, the singer’s mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found fatally shot in their home.

King had been missing since the killings and police had sent out an Amber Alert for the boy.

When asked if Balfour is a person of interest in King’s death as well as in the slaying of his grandmother and uncle, Monique Bond, spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, told PEOPLE: “It’s all one investigation.”

Bond added: “Our investigation continues. He is still considered a person of interest in the investigation.”

Source:www.People.com

Throughout her life, Jennifer Hudson leaned on one person more than any other: her mom.

“They were very close, very tight,” says Richard Lyons, Hudson’s acting coach for her 2006 Oscar-winning role in Dreamgirls. “Her mom came down to the set and she was just the sweetest person. She was so humble.”

Now Hudson, 27, is mourning the death of her mother, Darnell Donerson, who was murdered on Oct. 24. Hudson’s brother Jason was also fatally shot in the crime, which took place in Donerson’s home on the South Side of Chicago. Three days later the body of the singer’s 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, was found in an abandoned SUV miles from Donerson’s house.

The crimes have stunned those in the community, who recall the soft-spoken Donerson as a positive presence. “She would do anything for anyone,” says one neighbor. “She hosted a block party for our whole neighborhood a few months back.”

“She didn’t need to move,” says Lyons. “She didn’t need a bigger house. She didn’t need anyone to buy her a new car. She didn’t desire or want those things. She was just supportive and stood by her daughter.”

Adds Lyons: “When you see something like that in a mom, which I think is rare in this business, that’s what makes it so hard for me to grasp the situation. I saw a woman who wasn’t trying to benefit from her daughter’s success at all. Her mom was just supportive. This really, really hurts.”

RELATED ARTICLE:
• 2007: Revisit Jennifer’s evening at the Oscars
RELATED GALLERY:
• Read about more murder cases that shocked the nation on the covers of PEOPLE

Source:www.People.com