Hudson offers reward for nephew

CHICAGO (AP) — Jennifer Hudson and her family offered a $100,000 reward Sunday for the safe return of her missing nephew as investigators looked for forensic evidence near the home where her mother and brother were found shot to death.

Mourners dressed in their Sunday best milled outside the childhood home of the singer and Oscar-winning actress, along with investigators seeking clues to the whereabouts of 7-year-old Julian King, the son of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia.

In a statement Sunday evening from publicist Lisa Kasteler, Jennifer Hudson appealed to the public for its help, offering the reward and asking that any information be given to Chicago police.

"Jennifer and her family appreciate the enormous amount of love, support and prayers they have received while she and her family try to cope with this tragedy and continue the search for Julian," the statement said.

Police ramped up search efforts for Julian around the Englewood neighborhood, where Hudson grew up, and transferred custody of a "person of interest" in the killings to state authorities.

An Amber Alert remained in effect Sunday for Julian, who disappeared Friday, the day the bodies of his grandmother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and 29-year-old uncle Jason Hudson were found in the home they shared on the city's South Side. The deaths were ruled homicides.

The Amber Alert listed William Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, as a suspect in a "double homicide investigation."

Police said they did not have a motive for the killings but called the case "domestic related." Bond said Balfour had not been charged.

"Detectives are working 24 hours on this case," said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "There's a lot of forensic evidence. We have to work the evidence and try and solve this case. Most importantly, we want to find the child."

Authorities said the search for Julian would be citywide, but on Sunday residents and officers focused their efforts "in the immediate vicinity" of the home, said police spokesman Dan O'Brien.

Bond said no weapon had been found at the Hudson home, a three-story house sandwiched by vacant lots littered with trash. Investigators on Sunday moved in and out of the home and examined the trash.

Mourners stopped by the Hudson home, many laying teddy bears along the chain link fence around the property. Others signed a cross that rested on the fence.