Suspect arrested in Jennifer Hudson family murder case

William Balfour, a suspect in the deaths, was arrested Friday but has not been charged, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing law enforcement officials.

Mr. Balfour remained in custody, but the nephew, Julian King, has not been seen since the bodies of the mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and the brother, Jason Hudson, 29, were found Friday.

Because the boy may have been taken across state lines, a police spokesman, John Mirabelli, said the F.B.I. had been asked to assist in the search. An F.B.I. spokesman, Ross Rice, confirmed the agency was helping to look for the child.

"He is still the object of an active Amber Alert," said Chicago police spokesman Daniel O'Brien, referring to a missing child bulletin.

Chicago police superintendent Jody Weis said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been called in to help with the hunt for seven-year-old Julian King in case he had been taken over state lines.

"We're doing that as a precautionary measure," Weis told CNN. "We're pursuing this relentlessly."

As community leaders asked for volunteers to help search for the child, investigators had taken William Balfour, a suspect in the killings and the disappearance of King, into custody late Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune newspapers reported.

But police remained tight-lipped about the case and would only say that they were questioning several people in connection with the double homicide and the little boy's disappearance.

Balfour's mother was more forthcoming telling reporters at a Chicago police station late Friday that officers were refusing to let her see her son and insisting on his innocence.

"My son had nothing to do with this -- and I'm very upset with the police because they are refusing to let me see my son," Michele Davis Balfour told reporters, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday.

"Whoever has Jennifer Hudson's nephew or Julia Balfour's son, I'm begging you, me and my family, are begging you to return that son," she told the local WLS television.