CHICAGO – Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson considered her mother’s Chicago home a haven, a place where she could find respite from Hollywood’s occasionally brutal and superficial ways.

That South Side sanctuary, however, was violently shattered Friday when her mother and brother were gunned down during a domestic disturbance, law-enforcement officials said.

The actress’ 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, remained missing late Friday night. A suspect in the killings was believed to have abducted the boy, but when the man was arrested Friday night, the boy was not with him.

“I just can’t fathom something like this happening,” said Ethel Grisom, a longtime family friend. “The entire family were just real friendly people who enjoyed being together. This is going to be devastating for them.”

At about 3 p.m., a relative found Darnell Donnerson, 57, fatally shot in her living room, law enforcement officials said. The family member notified authorities, who then found Jason Hudson, 29, dead in a bedroom.

Neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 9 a.m. There were no signs of forced entry to the home.

Donnerson had been shot in the head, while Jason Hudson suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Police said at least one of the victims had suffered defensive wounds.

A law-enforcement source said police had a suspect in custody but still had not located the boy. King is described as 4-foot-11 and weighing 130 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair and was last seen wearing a striped polo shirt and khaki pants.

The actress’ sister, Julia, reported the boy missing from the home Friday afternoon, a police source said.

Family friends said the boy was her son, but police did not confirm that.

The Tribune is not naming the suspect because he has not been charged.

Public records list one of his previous addresses as the Donnerson’s home in the 7000 block of South Yale Avenue in Chicago.

Cook County court records show the suspect pleaded guilty in 1999 to attempted murder and vehicular hijacking.

He also was convicted in a 1998 case of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, records show.

The man was released from the Illinois River Correctional Center in Downstate Canton in May 2006 after serving seven years in prison. He is still on probation, state records show.



On Friday afternoon, scores of onlookers flocked to the street corner nearest to the Hudson home. They pressed up against yellow police tape for a glimpse of the white house three doors down. Evidence technicians and police officers came and went, and the house’s lights stayed on as the sky grew darker and rain squalls scattered the dwindling onlookers.

Many neighbors’ thoughts turned to Jennifer Hudson, who returned home to visit her mother as often as twice a month if her schedule allowed. A 1999 graduate of the Dunbar Vocational Career Center, she could walk through the Englewood neighborhood without anyone hassling her or following her with a camera.

“She never had no problems with fans stalking her,” neighbor Vanessa Stanton said. “She didn’t even need a bodyguard (though she did have one). The whole neighborhood block would look out for her.”


Hudson famously left her Burger King job to compete in the 2004 season of “American Idol.” She finished seventh and endured harsh words from judge Simon Cowell, but her powerful, five-octave range helped win her the role of Effie White in the musical “Dreamgirls.”

Her show-stopping on-screen rendition of “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going” led to widespread critical praise and the 2007 Academy Award for best supporting actress.

Upon winning the Oscar, she became emotional as she thanked her mother for traveling to Los Angeles to celebrate the nomination. Since that time, her family and their large, white home has been her touchstone, a place that could pull her back to Earth should her self-importance skyrocket.

“My faith in God and my family, they’re very realistic and very normal, they’re not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that’s just another place that’s home,” she recently told the Associated Press. “I stand in line with everybody else, or, when I go home to my mom I’m just Jennifer, (so she says), ‘You get up and you take care of your own stuff.’ And I love that; I don’t like when people tell you everything you want to hear, I want to hear the truth, you know what I mean.”


Donnerson mostly kept out of the spotlight. When asked if she’d like to attend a recent taping of Oprah Winfey’s show, on which Hudson would be publicizing “The Secret Life of Bees,” Donnerson declined.

“She doesn’t welcome the attention at all,” Hudson told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph recently. “She’s the complete opposite of those stage mothers who say, ‘Oh, that’s my daughter, aren’t I great?’ She doesn’t want the attention, while at the same time, she’s extremely proud and happy for me.”

Jennifer Hudson was in the Tampa area at the time of the murders, and planned to immediately head to Chicago. Her sister, Julia, met police at Wentworth Area late Friday night.

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(Chicago Tribune reporters James Janega, Robert K. Elder, Deanese Williams-Harris, David Heinzmann and Stacy St. Clair contributed to this report.)

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(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune.

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