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Jennifer Hudson: An American Idol, a Triple Homicide, and Undying Faith · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Jennifer Hudson
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: are insane. She grew up on gospel music in Englewood,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the most dangerous four square miles in Chicago. the same
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: four square miles where three members of her family were
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: murdered in one weekend. The killer was someone Jennifer went
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to elementary school with, someone who once lived under the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: same roof and broke bread with her family. But before
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: this triple homicide tragedy, and even long after it, Jennifer
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Hudson made great music. Unlike that music I played for
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my Mellotron, called Young, Dumb,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and Baroque, MK1. I played you that loop because I
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to Womanizer by Britney Spears. And
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of don't
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: try to front cheese, could I afford it? Because that
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: was the number one song in America on October 24th, 2008.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: And that was the day Jennifer Hudson got a call
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: that would change the rest of her life and test
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: her faith like never before. On this episode, gospel music,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: family traitors, triple homicide, and the undying faith of Jennifer Hudson.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. The gunshots broke
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: the silence on South Yale Avenue between 8 and 9 a.m.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: First one round, and then a pause, and then another
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: round a few minutes later. No one called 911. No
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: one poked their head outdoors to see what happened. No
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: one prayed. This was Englewood, the south side of Chicago,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the most dangerous four square miles in all of the
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Windy City. Gunshots were part of the package. Gunshots punctuated
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: space and time like train whistles or clock tower chimes. Forgettable,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: background noise, an everyday occurrence. At 7019 South Yale Avenue,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: two bodies bled out in silence. One in the doorway
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of the first floor living room, another upstairs in bed,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: still tucked under the sheets. Dreams draining from his consciousness,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: inching towards an eternal slump. The Hudson household went quiet.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: No music sprang from the radio, no notes floated from
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: happy lungs, and no child hollering from the seat of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a tricycle. October 24th, 2008. Jennifer Hudson was not home
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the day her mother and brother were murdered, the very
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: same day that her nephew was kidnapped. But she would
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: be home again soon, here, standing on the streets of Englewood, praying,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: pleading for her nephew Julian, to return home safely. The
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: words leapt from her lips like a prayer. Julia Kate
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Hudson stood at the kitchen stove, a spatula in one
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: hand and the other over her heart as she sang,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: brushing against the fabric of a matronly flannel nightgown. No
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: bodies on the floor, no cartridges strewn across the carpet,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: just the heavenly melodies brimming from Julia's chest and her
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: odd little granddaughter Jennifer listening along. This is how life
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: in the Hudson household was supposed to be. Julia sang
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: hymns the right way, from memory and from the bottom
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of her lungs. She was a born gospel singer, inside
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and outside of the church choir. Her vocals shined brighter
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: than a stained glass window on a Sunday morning. At
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: every service, she commanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T, just like the gospel greats
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: who had come before her. Aretha, Sam, Marvin. She belted
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: out more than a hundred solos at her family's church
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: over the course of her life. Not for glory, but
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: for God. For God's glory. Julia had no interest in
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: being the next Aretha. Her satisfaction stemmed from singing for
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the Lord, plain and simple. Little Jennifer took notes. Julia's
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: raw talent instilled a strong faith in her young granddaughter.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: There was a saying in the Hudson household, a positive
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: refrain for all happy circumstances. Look at what God can do.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And if God could make you sing like this, well,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: sign Jennifer up. She joined the church choir at just
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: seven years old and followed her grandmother's musical traditions. Another
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: quote-unquote old-fashioned girl, as she liked to say. Jennifer didn't
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: touch modern worship music. She went by the books, literally,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and sang straight from the hymnals that lined the pews
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of her church, just like Julia did. But Jennifer also
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: sensed that maybe God had other plans for her. That
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: he wanted her to sing for other people. Not just
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the people crowded together in one building on a Sunday.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: And maybe not just gospel songs. Maybe she should sing
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: some of the secular music she overheard the neighbors playing.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Destiny's Child, Mariah Carey, Patti LaBelle. That music never played
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: in the Hudson household, though. At 7019 South Yale Avenue,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: it was all gospel, all God, all the time. For
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: some preteens and teenagers, such a strict musical regimen could
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: potentially create a restless little atheist eager to rebel against
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: a lifetime of Bible verses and intersperse a cuss word
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: into the endless chants of Amen and Hallelujah. But for
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Jennifer and her siblings, Jason and Julia, yes, her sister
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: was named Julia too, gospel music kept them spiritually fed
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: and full. You had a feast on these things if
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: you wanted to feel good living in Englewood, a neighborhood
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: where the statistics were on nobody's side. Located in Chicago's Southside,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Englewood's poverty rate is double that of Greater Chicago. The
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: median household income is half of that in Chicago. 28%
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: of Englewood residents over age 16 are unemployed. Incidents of
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: violent crime are three times as frequent in comparison to
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Greater Chicago. The crime rate in Englewood is 276% higher
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: than the national average. It's not surprising, then, that the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Hudson family clung to their faith and to each other.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: In fact, religion regulated everything in the Hudson household. Bible
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: study was on Monday nights, followed by rehearsals for the
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: adult and youth choirs on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. That
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: meant double duty for Jennifer, who sang in both. Saturdays
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: were devoted to folding and stapling the Sunday church bulletins,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and Sunday itself was a day-long celebration. First came the
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: morning service, and then the Hudson family's weekly lunch out,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a small splurge at either KFC or McDonald's. Food only,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: no drinks. Drinks made the meal too expensive. Then back
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to church for the evening service and Sunday dinner at home.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Those Hudson Sunday dinners covered every inch of the table
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: like a Christmas Day spread. Pork chops, collard greens, mac
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: and cheese, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, biscuits. Jennifer's family was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: not rich by any means, but they did have everything
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: they needed. Food for the soul and music for the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: soul as well. but not everyone was fortunate enough to
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: return to a home glowing with familial love. The same
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: light that the Hudsons basked in didn't permeate the pall
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: surrounding William Balfour, a classmate of Jennifer and Julius. When
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: William returned home from school every day, he waded into darkness.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Knee-deep in violence passed from generation to generation in his family.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: William's grandma did time for manslaughter, and his dad did
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: time for murder. and William received any leftover aggression in
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the form of physical abuse from his own parents. Crime
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and jail time were his only hand-me-downs. William was born
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: into a culture of cruelty, and so cruelty is what
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: William Balfour had to offer the world. As a struggling teenager,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: he shuffled between foster homes, not because he had been
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: taken away from his family by Child Protective Services, although
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: that should have been the case, but because his mother
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: said she couldn't quote-unquote handle him anymore. She surrendered her
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: parental rights on her own volition. William didn't fare much
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: better with his various new families. His family's tradition of
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: trauma loomed behind him like a shadow. In the eighth grade,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: when most kids were taunting each other and trying on
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: their middle school graduation gowns, William was zipping up a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: pint-sized orange jumpsuit. At only 14 years old, he racked
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: up his first criminal charge. And not for dumb teenager
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: stuff like shoplifting from a CVS, but for heroin possession.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: The big leagues. Real adult crime. Next stop, Juvie. The
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: news spread through the halls of Jennifer's school, fast. William's
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: arrest was the talk of the teens gossiping between classes
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: at their lockers. Such a loner, so reserved. Of course
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: he was scheming. It's always the quiet ones. Jennifer knew
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: exactly what they meant. She saw how he carried himself
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and kept to himself. He never gave her any trouble personally,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: but she didn't trust him. Her gut told her not
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: to get near that boy, and if fate brought her
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: near him, it told her to get out of the way.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: But William was off to a correctional facility. Steering clear
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: of him would be easy now. Easy, until the day
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: he moved on. into her home. Jennifer Hudson tried not
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: to make a scene. She didn't want her plea to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: be obvious. She stood steady on the bright blue American
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Idol stage next to future Idol winner Fantasia Barrino. They
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: clasped sweaty palms and dug their manicured nails into each
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: other's hands. Jennifer didn't close her eyes like people did
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: in the movies. She looked right at the camera and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: she prayed. She prayed for her destiny to come together. 2004,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Elimination Night. Police got it. I'm going home tonight, Jennifer prayed.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: I want to go home. Ryan Seacrest granted her wish
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: almost immediately. He announced the elimination without any phony reality
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: TV suspense. That person is Jennifer Hudson. Jennifer smiled and
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: took Fantasia into her arms. No tears fell from her eyes.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: No jitters made her wobble offstage. This was right. It
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: seemed wrong, sure, Jennifer had absolutely dominated the Barry Manilow
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: theme the night prior, but leaving was the right move
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: for her. There was no shame in placing seventh. American
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Idol was just another talent competition, after all, and Jennifer
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: cut her teeth on talent competitions growing up. She had
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: her share of those tacky crowns from her teen years.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: She didn't need another one, even if it meant losing
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: an extra few weeks on air in front of America.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: When she packed her bags to return to Chicago, Jennifer
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: was content. Chicago, on the other hand, was devastated. When
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: it came to American Idol voting, the efforts of Jennifer's
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: hometown usually went unmatched. Once Chicago had a local woman
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: performing on such a big platform, churches across the region
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: followed American Idol religiously. Tuesday nights meant congregating at churches
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: across the city to watch Jennifer compete. When the curtain
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: fell on that last contestant every week, The flock dispersed
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: from the pews, rushing home to dial in their votes
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: for their very own Jenny from the block. Just weeks prior,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Jennifer received the highest amount of votes that round. But
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: God does indeed work in mysterious ways. On the night
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: of Jennifer's final idol performance, a tornado stormed through Chicago,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: uprooting the power lines and phone lines as it tore
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: through town. No phone service meant no phone calls, and
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: no phone calls meant no votes for Jennifer. far too
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: few votes, at least. The loss was a blow for Chicago,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: but not for Jennifer's pride. As she told MTV, I
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: feel like that storm was a sign from God that
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: it was time to remove me, and when he got
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: something to say, I ain't got nothing to say about it.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: It gave a whole new meaning to the Hudson's look
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: at what God can do catchphrase. But reality TV contestant
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: or not, the public still had a lot to say
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: about Jennifer Hudson. She wouldn't be another top 12 contestant
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: who faded into a backdrop of has-been idol contenders famous
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: for a few weeks and forgotten the next. Her elimination
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: had the opposite effect. The shock surrounding America's decision kept
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: all eyes on her, including the eyes of director and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: screenwriter Bill Condon. He could see that Jennifer was more
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: than just a singer too, although her mountainous vocal chops
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: were central to her charm. Those kind of vocal cords
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: called for a special kind of role. A role like
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Effie White in his next picture, Dreamgirls, the Motown music
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: flick inspired by the story of the Supremes. Jennifer beat
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: out Fantasia for the role, along with 782 other women
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: who tried to do their best to recapture the magic
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: of Motown. She didn't beat Beyoncé. She didn't have to.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Beyoncé was going to play her groupmate, Dina Jones, inspired
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: by Diana Ross. She was going to be co-stars with Beyoncé,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Miss Destiny's Child herself. That was a big enough feat
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: for Jennifer. But on top of that, Jamie Foxx would
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: also be by her side, as her love interest, lip
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: locks included. When filming wrapped, Jennifer's hype was so huge
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: that she lined up a record deal with Arista Records
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: before Dreamgirls even dropped. Arista founder Clive Davis literally bought
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: out her existing deal to make sure her debut album
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: was released under his label. And that was before she
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: took home an Oscar. That's where Jennifer Hudson won an
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Oscar for her first role in a movie, ever. An
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: accomplishment most Hollywood hopefuls would kill for, and Jennifer did
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: it naturally. God's plan was on point. Jennifer knew it.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Chicago knew it, too. Even though her time was divided
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: between countries and coasts, as she endured a rigorous schedule
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: of international film festivals, press tours, and recording sessions for
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: her debut album. But no matter where her newfound fame
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: took her, whenever she could, She spent time in Englewood,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: where her mother, brother, sister, and nephew still shared a
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: home together. When Jennifer was in town, they ate the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: same meals as she did as a child, recited the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: same prayers with the same conviction. But one day, when
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Jennifer returned home, there was a new face at the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: family dinner table. William Balfour. Jennifer hadn't seen him in
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: at least a decade. He was older now, more muscular.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: People called him Flex because he was so cut. He
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: was also more set in his ways. Jennifer's feelings towards
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: him hadn't changed, and William hadn't changed much either. After
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: his time in juvie, William rejected his life as a
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: foster kid. The constant motion, the fake families. Fuck that.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: He was over it, he thought. Instead, he opted for
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: a life on the streets. From there, William took up
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: with the Gangster Disciples, one of the largest gangs in Chicago.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Only three years after his arrest for heroin possession, He
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: upgraded his criminal record to include vehicular hijacking and attempted murder.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: At 17 years old, William not only stole a car,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: but he tried to toss the car's owner to his
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: death while the owner desperately clung to the roof. William
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: swerved and sped his way right into another seven years
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: behind bars. And in a cruel twist of fate, when
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: William emerged from prison in 2006, he waltzed straight into
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the heart of Jennifer's sister, Julia. Julia was smitten. Jennifer
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was confused, to say the least, and appalled. She tried
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to bargain with her sister. What did she want? A
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: house of her own? A new car? A lavish vacation?
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Jennifer had money now. A-list movie money. She would buy
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Julia anything she wanted. Anything. She didn't marry William. But
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Julia was unmoved by the material bribes. William was good,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: she insisted, and a good stepfather to Julia's seven-year-old, Julian.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: He even wrote proud parent on his MySpace bio. Her
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: heart insisted upon a wedding, insisted upon William. And the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: couple read the room and then got the hell out
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: of that room, eloping in late 2006. William was always
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: welcome at the Hudson's table, of course. Embracing an outsider
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: with acceptance and tolerance was a Christian way. But once
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: William moved into the Hudson household, the Hudson's had a
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: front row seat to his relationship with Julia. The more
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: they saw, the more their opinion of William shrank. William
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: did not love Julia. He thought he did. He signed
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: marriage papers proclaiming that he did, but what William felt
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: towards Julia was something far more sinister. His feelings bordered
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: on ownership. Jealousy coursed through him like second nature. If
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Julia was going to love anybody, it was going to
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: be him. End of discussion. He had his happy family now,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and he wasn't about to lose it over anything or anybody.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: In William's mind, Julia owed her affection. All of it.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Hugging other people set him off. Kisses made his blood curl.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Didn't matter who Julia was embracing. Her mother, her sister,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: even her seven-year-old son that William was supposedly a proud
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: parent of. His heart grew green and his cheeks flushed
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: red at the sight of any affection given to anyone else.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: If Julia was loving someone else and she wasn't loving William,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: then William couldn't accept that kind of traitorous behavior. Mind you,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: This is how William felt when Julia shared affection with
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: her own family, people she literally could not cheat on
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: him with. Imagine if she hugged a friend, a co-worker,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: another man. What would that push him to do? Julia
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: didn't wait to find out. She couldn't afford to. She
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: disregarded their vows and tossed William and his wicked tantrums
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: out on the street. He successfully shot down their whirlwind
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: romance in cold blood, and their marriage was dead. It
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: should have been a moment of relief for the Hudsons.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Should have been. But William was a possessive man. Worse,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: he was a determined one. William moved out and claimed
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: to move on to another woman. But he never strayed
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: far from South Yale Avenue to check up on what
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: his wife was doing. Who she was doing. If he
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: couldn't catch a good glimpse from Julia's bedroom window on
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the first floor, he'd ask around town. Was Julia, you know,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: seeing anybody? His subtlety ended there. He had plans. Dark plans.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: He was going to kill the whole Hudson family if
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Julia so much as stepped outside with another man. He'd
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: shoot them all, one by one. And he'd take care
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: of Julia last, so she'd have to watch him pull
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the trigger. over and over again, repainting the walls one
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: blood-soaked shot at a time. He told Julia this to
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: her face. He told the neighbors to their faces. His
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: intentions were the worst kept secret in Englewood. William's threats
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: drew closer when someone invaded the Hudson's home in 2008.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: and the burglar left with no money, no jewels or electronics,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: just a house key and a. 45 belonging to Jennifer's brother, Jason.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: This had nothing to do with making a quick buck
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: off a break-in. Jennifer couldn't contain her concern anymore. This
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: was even bigger than Julia now. This man planned to
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: gun down all of them. Jennifer begged her mother to move.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: She offered her mother Darnell a new house, right here
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: in Chicago. She didn't have to go far. She couldn't
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: stay here. It was a death wish otherwise. Her mother,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: like all brave parents, appeared unbothered. She said William could
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: touch her family over her dead body. That's a real quote.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: So William did. William peeked into Julia's bedroom window for
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the final time on October 24th, 2008. He spotted Julia
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: before his eyes moved to a bundle of birthday balloons
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: occupying the corner of her room. Hearts on shiny mylar.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Lots of William didn't need any additional proof that a
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: new man was in the picture. He rapped on the window,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: shouted at Julia, asked her what the fuck she was
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: up to, seeing another man. He harassed her as she
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: walked out the front door on her way to her
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: shift as a school bus driver. William's rage energized him.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: He spouted off for as long as Julia would humor him.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: When she ran out of steam, she left him for
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: a second time, abandoned him once again in the front yard.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: But William hadn't said his piece. Not all of it.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: In his mind, Julia had just started some shit. And
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: he was going to finish it. We'll be right back
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: after this word, word, word. Julia Hudson noticed the bullet
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: hole in the door first. She knew what was waiting
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: for her behind the door before she opened it. She
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: burst through anyways. Her mother, Darnell Donerson, face down on
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the carpet, bullets buried in her back. Her white nightgown stained,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: her body gone cold in a pool of her own blood.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Once Julia opened her mouth to scream, she couldn't stop,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: couldn't control the howls coming from the depths of her lungs,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: shooting up from her stomach. Upstairs in his bedroom, her
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: brother Jason succumbed to the same fate. Shot dead in bed,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: murdered while he was sleeping. when he didn't stand a
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: chance of defending himself. But somehow, the worst discovery was
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: yet to come. In between morning moans, Julia realized she
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: was the only person at home. Her son Julian had
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: been here when she left for work that morning. She
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: was sure of it. She remembered him tumbling around on
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: his green tricycle, but she couldn't hear his frantic little
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: feet pedaling away, nor his giggle or hurried footsteps down
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the stairs. The silence of the house shook her. Julian
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: wasn't home. Maybe he was still alive. Please let him
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: be still alive. Jason's white Suburban had vanished from the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: curb too. Vehicular hijacking. That certainly sounded familiar. It could
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: be a kidnapping. That was better than murder at least. Barely.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Julia dialed 911. In a daze, she spoke in panicked fragments,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: claiming she didn't know what happened. But deep down inside her,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: she knew exactly what happened. She knew who had been there.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: who had fulfilled his promise. She used to wear his
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: ring on her finger. Julia's tearful next call was to
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: her sister, Jennifer Hudson, who was sunning herself 1,000 miles
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: away in Florida. Jennifer's then-husband, David Otunga, was holed up
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in the Sunshine State for rigorous pro wrestling training. Jennifer
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: tagged along on a whim to escape the October chill
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of Chicago. It was a whim that saved her life.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's blood turned to ice when Julia struggled to get
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the words out over the phone. Mama was dead, Jason dead,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and Julian missing. Jennifer knew if she had been home
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: that day, she would be a third body on the ground,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: soaking in a crimson puddle. While Jennifer raced out of
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Florida on the next available flight, police raced to the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: main suspect, William Balfour. Police found William across town on
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Chicago's west side at his new girlfriend's They arrested him
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: on the spot and carted him downtown for more information,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: locked him in an interrogation room. William had been to
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the Hudson household earlier that morning after all. Cops questioned
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: him up and down, and William recited his story with ease. Sure,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: he had argued with Julia earlier in that day, but
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: came home after, caught the bus and the train to
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: get across town. He'd been here with his new boo
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: ever since. And the little boy Julian, he hadn't seen
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: him since that morning either, riding his tricycle around the yard.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: William said that he hoped the kid was okay. There
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: were no fewer than three lies in this statement. According
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to public transportation data, William hadn't used his pass for
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the bus that day, and there was no footage of
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: him on the train platform that afternoon either. Data from
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: William's phone provider even demonstrated that William was in the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: area of the Hudson household well past his morning argument
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: with Julia. In fact, he was in that area right
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: around the time those gunshots rang out on South Yale Avenue.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Not a good look for William, but he wouldn't budge
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: on his alibi. When William stuck to his story, hours
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: without Julian ticked away. His absence widened the hole in
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the hearts of the Hudson family. Amber alerts ran across
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the bottom of every TV screen in Chicago. And the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: nearby new Cavalry Light Pentecostal Church replaced their lawn sign's
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: usual words of wisdom with help find Julian King in
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: a phone number. Within 24 hours, the FBI joined the
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Chicago police in the search for the little boy nicknamed Juicebox.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: And there was still hope. Julian was out there somewhere,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: maybe in the back of that white Suburban, maybe breathing.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Jennifer and Julia held hands and held out hope, but
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: their spirits had been weakened, brittle, and broken in a
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: matter of hours. They needed strength and security. So they
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: went to the place where they felt safest. They went
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: to church. News anchors set their cameras in the pews
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: at Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist Church on October 25th, one
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: day after the murders of Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother. Julia,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Jennifer Hudson's sister, stood behind the podium to share her
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: plea with the press. She implored viewers for her son,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Julian's life, as tears trickled down her cheeks. I don't
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: care who you are. Just let my baby go. I
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: just want my son back. He doesn't deserve this. The
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: broadcast ended. The search for Julian went on. Another 24
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: hours crawled by. That's when Jennifer upped the stakes and
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: announced a $ 100, 000 reward for her nephew's safe return. Now,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: there was nothing left to do but pray. Their hands trembled.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Another Our Father. One more Hail Mary, just for good measure.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: They let the recitation soothe them, distract them, steady them.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: In the background, someone read Psalm 19 on repeat, his
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: eyes never wavering from the Bible in his hand. The
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Night after night, they reveal knowledge. White memorial crosses stood
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: tall in front of the Hudson home, each covered in
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: morning messages and endless God bless you's. Photos of Jennifer
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Hudson's brother and mother littered the yard. A pile of
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: stuffed animals on the lawn grew into a mountain. The
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: family and friends encircling the Hudson home had been there
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: for days. Their memorial for the Hudsons was alive, living, breathing, praying.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: But right now, at this very moment, they needed strength
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: from the Lord more than ever before. Police found a
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: white suburban that matched the description of the Amber Alert,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and that was the good news. The bad news was
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: that they found a little boy inside, dead. under a
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: shower curtain, two bullets in his brain, shot execution style.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Once police made the gruesome discovery inside the van, they
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: scoured the surrounding area and located a gun nestled in
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: a grassy vacant lot. Forensics confirmed it was a match
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: for all three murders. While the crowd at South Yale
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Avenue clasped their hands in prayer, Jennifer and Julia drove
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: to Cook County Medical Center for the second time that
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: week to identify the body. Jennifer confirmed it. It was
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: the third body she had to ID in less than
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a week. Her family's tragedy was now a triple homicide.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Triple the heartbreak. Her mother's words echoed in Jennifer Hudson's ears.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Over my dead body. Jennifer Hudson saw the police tape
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: on the street before she could even park her car.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Her stomach instantly twisted into a knot. She knew damn
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: well the crowd lining the sidewalk was too big for
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: there to be any good news waiting for on the
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: other side of that yellow tape. She bolted from the
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: driver's seat without bothering to lock the car behind her.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Jennifer elbowed strangers and neighbors out of the way, forced
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: herself to the front of the bystanders. She froze when
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: she reached the edge of the crime scene. Her daughter, Patty,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: rested underneath a bloody white sheet. The sheet did not
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: rise and fall with her breaths. It lay still, and
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: so did Patty, just like she would for the rest
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: of eternity. She was the victim of a few stray bullets,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: authorities told Jennifer, another accidental casualty caught between beefing gangs.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Jennifer wailed, not the despairing kind, the irate kind, the
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: blood-boiling kind. Did no one see anything? Did no one
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: have anything to confess to? She locked eyes with every
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: person in the crowd as she lashed out. Were they
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: just going to stand by as her daughter bled out?
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Were they just going to stand there, stupefied? Cut! Spike
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Lee's voice rang out from the director's chair. From where
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Spike Lee was sitting, Jennifer's acting chops hadn't been eroded
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: by grief at all. Maybe the heartache had actually emboldened her.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: The camera crew captured the gripping scene in a single take,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: one and done. Jennifer earned the Academy Award in her
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: first role for a reason. At first, Jennifer Hudson couldn't
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: believe it when Spike Lee approached her for a role
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: in his 2015 movie Chirac, and for a role that
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: hit so close to home, too. She played Irene, a
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: local mother who we meet as she mourns the sudden
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: death of her 11-year-old daughter, lost to the gang violence
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: plaguing Chicago. Irene wasn't real, but her story basically was.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's fate in Englewood hadn't played out all that differently.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: It pained Jennifer to step into those shoes again. to
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: feel her blood go cold in an instant, to see
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: a child senselessly murdered, even if it was just pretend
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: this time. But if telling Irene's story meant another person
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: might be saved from a similar fate, it was worth
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the re-immersion. Jennifer Hudson didn't want revenge. She didn't crave
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: a cruel fate for William Balfour. She just wanted justice
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: for her fallen family members, for the senseless bloodshed. She
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: already had secured some of that justice when William Balfour
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: was tried just a few years earlier in 2012. By
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: the time William appeared in court, four years had passed
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: since he murdered half the Hudson family. Jennifer hadn't forgotten
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: a thing. She remembered the way William had made her
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: uneasy since elementary school, all the times he threw a
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: tantrum over hugs amongst family members. And perhaps worst of all,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: she remembered how he had boasted about killing half the
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Hudson family, to Julia, to the neighborhood, and to anyone.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: who would listen. Jennifer requested to testify first at William's
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: trial to ensure that this information was front and center.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: She needed the jury to understand William's character, his lack
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: of character, actually. In 18 hours, the jury found William
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: guilty of triple homicide, home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, residential burglary,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: and possession of a stolen vehicle. He'd spend three lifetimes
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: in prison for his crimes, plus another 120 years. As
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: the judge slammed the gavel, he left William with the
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: following assessment. You have the heart of an Arctic knight
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: and your soul is as barren as deep space. When
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: William went back to his prison cell, Jennifer Hudson went
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: back to her family's graves for the first time since
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: she buried them. She could finally look them in the eye,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: so to speak, and tell them William would wither into
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: old age behind bars. Her mother, Jason and Julian. She
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: wanted them all to know how she dug up everything
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: she could remember about William's history with her family for
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: that trial. But she remembered some other things about William too.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: The way he was raised, the violence that stained his
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: family history. At least three generations deep passed on to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: him through a cruel childhood. How lucky she was to
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: have never experienced such brutality. To have a faith and
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: family that surrounded her. that gave her voice a purpose,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: that filled her life with warmth so her heart could
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: never ice over. Not even after a murder. Not even
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: after three murders. Jennifer Hudson publicly forgave William Balfour. He
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: never had a chance, she said. Never had a chance
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: to live anything but a life of violence. So we saw, too,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: that the three other people would never have the chance
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: to live long, happy lives themselves. So many people never
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: had a chance. Jennifer Hudson walked back onto set. It
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: was time to film the aftermath of her one-take crime scene.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: She knelt down with a bucket of soapy water. She
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: dumped some suds onto the ground where her fictional daughter
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: was slain. Pain pricked her fingertips as she started scrubbing
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: at the blood-stained pavement. Old wounds reopened. The water deepened
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: to a morbid shade of red. The stain was starting
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: to come off the pavement. Her work here was nearly done.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: So many people Never had a chance, she remembered. She
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: needed to make it through this scene so someone else
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: could have a chance. Look at what she could do.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Look at what God can help her do. Jennifer leaned
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: back on her knees. She closed her eyes, took a
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: deep breath, and she prayed. I'm Jake Brennan, and this
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: if not, you can become a member right now by
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: going to disgracelandpod.com slash membership. Members can listen to every
• 35:57
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• 36:01
  Speaker 1: exclusive episode every month. Weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: and early access to merchandise and events. Visit DisgracelandPod.com slash
• 36:12
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• 36:15
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• 36:19
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• 36:29
  Speaker 1: All right, Discos, what did you think of this Jennifer
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Hudson episode? Give us a call and let us know. 617-906-6638.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Voicemail and text at DisgracelandPod on the socials. Coming up
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: next in Disgraceland, our new episode on Sonic Youth. Don't
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: go anywhere.