jennifer hudsonJennifer Hudson has formally identified the body of her seven year old nephew.

Julian King was declared missing, believed kidnapped, on Friday after the murdered bodies of his grandmother and uncle, Jennifer’s mother Darnell and brother Jason, were found at their home in the South Side of Chicago. On Sunday Jennifer offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of her nephew but his body was found in an abandoned car in Chicago yesterday morning. According to the Chicago police department, the body, with evidence of multiple gunshot wounds, was found “in the rear seat” of a white SUV in the West Side of the city around 7am yesterday (local time).

After identifying the bodies of her mum and brother at the weekend, the Dreamgirls star was called to identify Julian’s body yesterday and afterwards, police confirmed the boy’s death.

Police have yet to formally name any suspects in the shootings but are holding William Balfour, a “person of interest” - Julian’s former step-father, the estranged husband of Jennifer’s sister Julia.

Balfour is currently being held on parole violation but police sources have claimed he’s the prime suspect in the murders.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department say they are “pretty optimistic” about finding the person responsible: “[We’ve”] got two crime scenes. Oftentimes there’s lots of evidence left at a crimes scene so I’m very confident that our forensic technicians will go through both areas with a fine-toothed comb, and I suspect there will be some evidence that will link us to the killer.

“We are following any lead that we can get right now. [Balfour]’s a person of interest, but that’s not to say that there’s not other individuals that may turn up. Right now we are just following the facts we have and we are following the evidence we have.”