After over a month of what had to have felt like an excruciatingly long time for Jennifer Hudson, her sister, Julia, and the rest of the Hudson family and friends, there is finally an arrest in the murders of Jennifer’s mother, brother and nephew. On October 24th, Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson were found murdered in their home in Chicago, three days later the body of 7-year old Julian King, the son of Julia Hudson, was found in the missing SUV from the original crime scene.

William Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia, was picked up by police as a person of interest on the day that Darnell and Jason were found. He was held for the 48-hours, the longest he could be held without charges, and then moved to a corrections facility on parole violation charges, where he’s been since. Finally, on Monday, Balfour was officially arrested for the crimes, although not yet officially charged.

The estranged brother-in-law of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was arrested and will be charged with the October slayings of three of her relatives, police said on Monday.

“We have obtained an arrest warrant for William Balfour. He was released to Chicago detectives,” Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said, adding that Balfour would be charged with three counts of murder.”

The Chicago Tribune reported investigators had evidence that Balfour had a gun matching the weapon.

[From Reuters]

It’s been frustrating and has seemed to have taken forever to those of us just watching things unfold for this arrest to happen, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for Jennifer and her sister. I sincerely hope that they’ve collected an adequate amount of evidence to make this arrest turn into a conviction. Our thoughts are still with the Hudson family as this trial is going to be just as hard on them as the last month has been.

Header image is of the memorial outside the Hudson family home on 10/29/08. Credit: C.M. Wiggins / WENN