26 Oct 2008

Actress's nephew still missing after double homicide

4:17 pm on 26 October 2008

Police investigating the fatal shooting of the mother and brother of American actress Jennifer Hudson are still searching for her seven-year-old nephew.

A state-wide alert has been issued in Illinois for Julian King, the missing boy.

The bodies of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and her brother, Jason Hudson, 29, were found at their family home in Chicago on Friday.

Police have taken a man into custody and he is being questioned, but so far no-one has been charged.

Chicago police spokesman Daniel O'Brien said the FBI had been asked to help in the search in case the boy had been taken across state lines, in violation of federal kidnap laws.

Jennifer Hudson, 27, a singer-turned-actress who found fame on American Idol in 2005, won an Oscar for best supporting actress in the hit-film Dreamgirls in 2006 and starred in the film Sex and the City.

She is currently starring in The Secret Life of Bees.