CHICAGO:The older sister of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson made a plea at a Chicago church for the return of her missing seven-year-old son, a day after the siblings' mother and brother were found shot dead at the family home.
Julia Hudson made the plea for her son Julian King. He was reported missing from the family's home. The mother and brother of the sisters were found shot dead the same day in the home.
A postmortem showed their mother Darnell Donerson (57) and their brother Jason Hudson (29) had died of gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Their deaths were ruled homicides.
Julia Hudson said that her famous sister flew to Chicago after learning the news. It wasn't clear whether the actress and singer was at the church.
"I don't care who you are, just let the baby go," Julia Hudson said to a crowd from the podium of the Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church with the boy's father, Greg King, at her side.
"I just want my son. He don't deserve this."
Authorities were holding a suspect with ties to the family, but no one had been charged.
Law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times that William Balfour was in custody, and the man's mother said that he was Julia Hudson's estranged husband.
Mr Balfour was named in a police alert issued after Julian's disappearance. Julia Hudson did not comment on her relationship to Mr Balfour.
The Hudsons, who have insisted on not allowing 27-year-old Jennifer's fame to alter their lives, lived in a three-storey white house in Chicago bookended by vacant lots.
Hudson gained fame in 2005 as a contestant on the US television show American Idol. She later won an Oscar for best supporting actress in the 2006 film version of the stage musical Dreamgirls.
She has since appeared in the movie version of Sex and the City and is currently in The Secret Life of Bees. - (AP)