Every Town - The Real-Life Drama of the Jennifer Hudson - Every Town

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

Even fame and fortune can’t tame and control life’s unpredictability, it’s just the way it goes, and award-winning singer-actress Jennifer Hudson can attest to that. Because just when she had everything going for her, Jennifer lost three of her loved ones in the blink of an eye. That’s how fickle life can truly be. 💥 Watch Episode On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries 🎃 Exclusive Content & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 🎧 Our Other Podcast - Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 💀 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 💥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 🗣 Business Inquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. We all have roller coaster lives in one way or another. Some people's coasters are faster than others.

They go higher or lower, last longer, or perhaps, or a short ride. Sometimes we're soaring high on cloud nine in one instance going to find ourselves confronted by misery and misfortune in the next turn. Even fame and fortune can't tame and control life's unpredictability. It's just the way it goes. An award-winning singer and actress, Jennifer Hudson, can attest to just that. Because when she had everything going for, Jennifer lost three of her loved ones in the blink of an eye. And that's how fickle life can truly be.

Hey guys, I'm Andrew, and welcome to this week's episode of Everytown. In 2008, Jennifer Hudson was on her fourth year in showbiz, basking in the brightest limelight as a versatile performer when she experienced the darkest moment in her life. October 24th that year, she lost her mother, brother, and young nephew to senseless murders perpetrated by

someone she knew well. So, let's dig into it, head over to Chicago, Illinois, to hear about the real-life drama of the Hudson family murders. Chances are not many would have ever even heard about

the triple murder of the Hudson's that occurred in the Inglewood neighborhood of Chicago, back on October 24th of 2008, had they not been family members of Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer, in case she didn't know, was an American Idol alum for Season 3. Though she only came in seventh place, she would go on to have a wildly successful career as she was dubbed the Princess of Soul by her industry peers and critics. Her talents, both in singing and acting, have rewarded her with worldwide notoriety as well as a well. But regardless of how much fortune and fame one might have, it doesn't stop them from being

human. And for anyone, losing three family members all at once, it is beyond devastating. For Jennifer, whose immediate family was tight-knit, it was utterly traumatic. In the 2008 killing spree, Jennifer's 57-year-old mother, Darnell Donnerson, her 29-year-old brother, Jason, and her seven-year-old nephew, Julian King, were gunned down at the family's three-story house on Chicago's south side. It's a small neighborhood where kids grow up accustomed to the sounds of gunfire, and residents there often brush them off, rarely even reporting them to authorities. The multi-awarded celebrity lived in that house with her family since coming into this world on September 12th of 1981. Jennifer is the third and youngest child of her late parents,

mother darnel and father Samuel Simpson, a greyhound bus driver who fathered 27 children in total, 11 girls and 16 boys. Although Jennifer hasn't met all of her half-siblings, she knows quite a few. She's closest to her older full sister, Julia, the mother of Julian, who works as a bus driver with character, as Jennifer describes her. The sisters live together with their mother and brother Jason and the Inglewood neighbor. herhood until the star of the family moved out in 2006. At that time, Jennifer was already carving out a name for herself and was on the cusp of superstardom, just as she was about to peak in her career and personal life, tragedy hit the Hudson family in the worst way.

Performing has always been a part of Hudson's DNA. There's no doubt about that. She started singing in her church choir and performing in her community theater when she was just seven years old. At 21, she signed her first recording contract with Righteous Records, a Chicago-based indie record label, while simultaneously working for Disney Cruise Lines, aboard the Disney Wonder singing as one of the muses from Hercules. As American Idol became a huge hit in the early 2000s, by 2004, Jennifer wanted to take her a chance, hoping for a golden ticket. She auditioned and made it on the show, was able to get released from her five-year

contract with righteous records, and for several weeks, she wound America and the judges with her unbelievable singing voice and charisma. In her acting debut in 2006's Dream Girls, it starred Eddie Murphy and Beyonce. She earned her a collection of Best Supporting Actress Awards, including the much-coveted Oscar trophy. Jennifer scored another feat in 2008 with the release of her self-titled debut studio album under Arista Records. Jennifer Hudson, the album, is a certified gold record in America, sold over a million copies internationally, and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

Not only was Jennifer reaping professional success, but her personal life was in full swing, too. On September 12th of 2008, the talented artist marked her 27th birthday by getting engaged to professional wrestler, actor, and lawyer, David Atunga, just seven months after they'd met. So in terms of having a wonderful life at the time, well, she clearly had it all. But as it always seems to be the case, the universe has ways of balancing things out. And sometimes with great highs, just around the corner, or some serious lows. Just six weeks later, Jennifer's rose-colored world took a drastic 180-degree turn,

and her elder sister, Julia, likewise, took the biggest blow in their family's largest upheaval. Julia was the killer's target, but circumstances swiveled and instead claimed the lives of half of the Hudson family members. To find out what happened exactly, you've got to go back a couple years. The year 2006 was a turning point in the lives of the Hudson sisters. Jennifer's first foray into movie acting merited her critical honors while her 31-year-old sister, Julia, found marital bliss. She married 27-year-old William Balfour, who became a stepfather to Julian King,

Julia's son from a previous relationship. The boy was the Hudson family's sunshine, whom mom Julia endearingly called Juice Box, while for celebrity aunt Jennifer, Justin was her tug-a-bear. The Hudson family was quite familiar with Williams since he and Jennifer had known each other since junior high. However, Jennifer would later reveal that she never really liked William. I actually tried to keep her distance from him. Perhaps her aversion, for the most part, had something to do with Williams' notorious criminal background.

Mr. Balfour has a 10th grade dropout whose father and brother with both ex-convicts. If he treaded the same path, it wasn't surprising at all since there was no one to care for him after his mother had abandoned the family. Since 14 years old, William had been a career criminal with a long list of offenses attached to his name. He was a gang member who dealt drugs and committed robberies. All these troubles in his life, according to therapists, left William with an intense sense

of loss and abandonment, as well as serious anger issues. He suffered from depression and insomnia and often lashed out at women. In the late 90s, William was arrested and convicted for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking, and possession of a stolen vehicle. After seven years in prison, he was then released in 2006, and then tied the knot with Julia just a few months later. And this, despite Jennifer's objection, because she witnessed how William didn't treat her sister and nephew well.

I would tell Julia over and over again not to marry William, the Hollywood star said. And Julia should have heeded her younger sister's advice, because within a year the marriage was besieged with troubles. William wasn't faithful and started seeing a woman on the side named Shanta Kathy. Because of this, according to reports, the Hudson matriarch, Darnell Donnerson, threw William out of their home in May of 2008. And consequently, Julia filed for divorce. and soon started dating again. Despite going their separate ways, William seemed unsettled and harbored

anger towards Julia and her family while his ex-wife was moving on with her life and a new man. And this opened the floodgates of rage and jealousy within William, as through his eyes, it was yet another woman in his life abandoning him. And it all culminated in disaster on October 24th, the day after Julia's 33rd birth bag. Jennifer was in Florida that day for some showbiz commitment, so Julia was with their mother and brother and Julia's son at the Chicago house. The single mom started the day working as a bus driver, but as soon as she had left the house, her jealous ex-husband stopped by the Hudson residence somewhere between 8 and 9 a.m. Witnesses claim that William had become Julius stalker ever since he'd been booted out of the Hudson house. and what sent him over the edge that particular day

was that William caught sight of a bunch of birthday balloons he thought were from Julia's boyfriend. It filled him with rage and armed with a 45 caliber handgun. The man went inside the house where without hesitation shot Mrs. Donnerson in the back. After that he went to Jason's room

and shot him twice in the head as he lay in bed. These gunshots didn't raise any alarms in the neighborhood. So hours later, when Julia arrived home from work, she was shocked to see her mother's lifeless body in a living room. She initially thought she had just fallen, and that is, until she noticed all the blood. She immediately and frantically called 911 telling the dispatcher. Somebody killed my mother. Please help me. My mama, my mama. She also said there was a bullet hole in the house's front door and didn't know where her brother, and son were at the moment.

While Jason's dead body was found, Julian was initially reported missing, which prompted a child abduction emergency alert. Then, three days later, on October 27th, the poor boy's body was discovered in Chicago's west side in an abandoned parked car that matched the Amber Alert description. The investigation showed that after killing the Hudson, mother and son, William drove off in Jason's white SUV with Julian,

and fatally shot him several times in the head as the young boy lay behind the front seat. The Chicago PD later confirmed that a pistol found in a west side vacant lot was the killer's weapon of all three individuals. When Jennifer learned about the brutal murders of her mother and her brother, as well as the disappearance of Julian, she immediately flew home to Chicago. At the morgue, she identified the lifeless bodies of Darnell and Jason. Three days later, she went back there to identify her nephew's body. For the breakout star of Dreamgirl, she was now living in a nightmare. Fortunately, redemption for the living Hudson sisters was within reach, for it didn't take that long for justice to be served.

Chicago police right away took William Balfour into custody on the same day of the killings. He was held for the maximum 48 hours allowable without filing criminal charges again. against him because they didn't have the murder weapon or witnesses at the time. He was then transferred over to the Illinois Department of Corrections on a parole violation, stemming from his stint in jail for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking, and possession of a stolen vehicle. Police knew he was the perpetrator in this, so they didn't want to let him go. The department's record showed that one of Williams's listed addresses was the Hudson home in Englewood. William faced the parole board hearing on November 10th of 2008

to review his violations, including his failure to get anger management and substance abuse counseling. But a more serious issue was brought up by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office to the Prisoner Review Board. Remember William, cheating on his ex-wife, Julia, with a woman named Shanta Kathy. She told investigators of seeing William with a gun, identical to the one used in shooting the Hudson family members several days before the crime even happened. The board's chairman ruled that the gun allegation alone was sufficient enough to hold William until a December 3rd hearing before the full Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Since no criminal charge was filed against him and the allegation of his involvement in the Hudson family murders was not part of the parole review hearing,

William faced the board without an assigned lawyer. But soon enough, he needed one after he had been arrested and finally charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Darnel Donison, Jason Hudson, and Julian King. William was denied bail during that December 3rd court hearing and finally indicted on December 30th. In January 20th, William maintained his innocence. Three years later, in the spring of 2012, the real-life drama and the Hudson family murders now shifted inside. the courtroom. Balfour's trial began on April 23rd of 2012. Prosecutors had to build an overwhelming circumstantial case against him, as there were no surviving witnesses or fingerprints to link him to the crimes. The evidence, largely anecdotal, came from the testimonies of witnesses.

So the prosecution presented around 500 documents and more than 80 witnesses, the first of whom was Jennifer Hudson, who never missed a single day in the two-week trial. She appeared in the court, devoid of any traces of an academy and Grammy winner, but as a grieving daughter, sister, and aunt. She was the first prosecution witness to testify and talked endearingly about her slain family members. Before her time was up, Jennifer expressed her dislike of William and said how she dissuaded her sister Julia from marrying him. The succeeding witnesses, then talked to talked about how the murders with a culmination of a story William himself laid out to them an alleged threat to kill Julia's family if she rejected him.

When Julia finally took the stand, she told jurors about Williams's fits of anger and jealousy, even over her son Julian, a second grader with straight A's in school. She said that he even furiously complained when Julian would kiss her, telling the boy, get off my wife. The most disparaging part of Julia's testimony, though, was about the alleged threats of William to her family. And three months after they separated in February of 2008, William begged Julia to reconcile with him, but she refused.

And then William started his threats. If you leave me, you will be the last to die. I'll kill your family first, she testified. Julia's claims were supported by a witness who said that in August of 2008, William ranted about his estranged wife in which he incessantly threatened to kill her family. Court records later showed that William threatened to kill the Hudson family in more than 20 occasions before the October 2008 triple murder. Further pushing William to the wall was the testimony from his pregnant girlfriend at the time.

She testified that William told her to line to the police about his whereabouts the day of of the murders. She agreed because she was in love with them and didn't want to get in any trouble, but she changed her mind and told the jury of her conversation with William after the murders. He said, they got shot, and I said, who? And he said, her mother and her brother, and I was looking at him crazy, like bug-eyed, and just staring at him. He said he went in, and the brother rushed him, and he shot him, and the mother was coming down the stairs, calling his name, and he name and he shot her. She also said that she let William stay in her house while police were looking for him in connection with the slangs of the Hudson home until he was eventually tracked down using

cell phone pings. The prosecutor's presentations left a big blow on the defense team, but Balfour's lawyers also came up with a storm of rebuttals. Cook County Assistant public defender Amy Thompson argued that Balfour's DNA was neither found on the murder weapon, nor inside the SUV where Julian King's body was discovered. However, an Illinois state police evidence analysis told jurors that gunshot residue was found on the steering wheel and ceiling of Williams' runaway SUV. Another analyst had no trace of Williams' DNA was found on the murder weapon,

but that didn't mean he never handled the gun. Could have been wiped clean or maybe you wore gloves. Thompson then shifted to a different strategy. and she said that the Chicago police knew the media would explode about the case because of the link to Hollywood star Jennifer and in their haste got the wrong man. The defense team suggested that another person committed the murders in connection to Jason Hudson's crack cocaine dealings. Thus, his family became the target. During cross-examination, Jennifer denied knowing anything at all about her brother's drug involvement. Ultimately, the drug angle didn't prove substantial.

because when it was time to present evidence, Williams' attorneys only called two witnesses and 30 minutes of testimony never presented any evidence to support that theory. The jurors deliberated for 18 hours, and when they did an initial voting, it was 9 to 3 in favor of conviction. But it was Williams' phone records that were the tipping point from all the circumstantial evidence presented. The testimony from a forensic investigator who told the court how he trained. triangulated Williams' location using cell phone towers, shattered Williams' claim of being innocent. In May of 2012, them. Belfort's fate was sealed with a guilty verdict for three counts of first-degree murder.

On July 24th that year, he was sentenced to three-life terms in prison without parole. Before his sentencing, William, it was emotionless all throughout, spoke for the first time. He offered condolences to the Hudson family, but maintained his innocence. And he said, My deepest prayers go out to Julian King. I loved him. I still love him. I'm innocent, Your Honor.

In reply, Cook County Circuit Judge Charles Burns told the convicted criminal, You have the heart of an Arctic night. Your soul is as barren as dark space. The orphan's sisters, Julia and Jennifer Hudson, happy and relieved and attaining justice for their family, They expressed their gratitude for the support that they had received from around the world. In their victory, they were magnanimous too. And part of their statement read,

We want to extend a prayer from the Hudson family to the Belfour family. We've all suffered a terrible loss in this tragedy. We pray that the Lord will forgive Mr. Balfour of these heinous acts and bring his heart into repentance someday. Jennifer wanted to keep the memory of Julian alive, especially for his mother Julia. In 2014, she founded the Julian D. King Foundation, stating, I wanted my sister to celebrate Julian's birthday again, so we created Hatch Day, and we go around together giving local schools supplies that children need. She can pour his blessings onto these kids and keep his memory alive.

My sisters also created the Hudson King Foundation, for families of slain victims, aiming to care for the needs of families who have lost relatives to a violent crime. Coming from the bottom-most part of their rollercoaster life, Jennifer and Julia Hudson have slowly found the force and will lift them up again. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I hope you enjoyed it. Go check this episode out in video form over on our YouTube channel called Scary Mysteries. And from more podcasts from us, you can check out the Scary Mysteries podcast. Remember to come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange,

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