Hudson Slayings Latest in Chicago's Crime Increase

Oct. 28, 2008 — -- Chicago's police chief today said he is confident authorities will find the clues to solve the murders of actress Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew.

"I suspect we'll have some evidence that will link us to the killer," Police Superintendent Jody Weis told The Associated Press.

Surveillance cameras throughout the city may have caught images that could aid the investigation, he said.

But even with a suspect in custody and an outraged community calling for an end to such violence, some residents questioned how clues to the crime remained in plain sight in the South Side Chicago neighborhood even as police put out an Amber Alert Friday to search for Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King.

Law enforcement searched for the car and the boy all weekend and both were just 10 miles southeast of the crime scene.

"It was there since Saturday," said John Louden, who spotted the SUV, checked the license plate and alerted police.

He and Lynette Louden discovered the car by accident as they were walking their Chihuahua Monday morning.

Police discovered Julian's body, with multiple gunshot wounds, in the back seat of a white Chevrolet Suburban.

"They opened up the door and one of the police said the baby is in there. And when he did I started hollering, 'Oh Jesus! Oh Jesus, not the baby,'" 47-year-old Lynette Louden said.

Julian's autopsy is planned for later today.

Hudson's mother, 57-year-old Darnell Donerson, was found dead on the living room floor by her sister, Julia Hudson Friday, and officers later discovered the Oscar winner's brother, 29-year-old Jason Hudson, in a bedroom of the family home.

"This should have never happened," said Faye Bell, a neighbor to the Hudson family.

Since the killings, the crime-ridden neighborhood to which Hudson previously had credited her success, has started a vigil outside the crime scene and begun to fight back against transgressions that have gripped the neighborhood.

"It's terrible," resident Kim Brown said. "It's ridiculous here. They just shoot, kill people for no reason."