CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
A bombshell dropped in court Friday, when the prosecution threw down a stunning new twist today at the trial of William Balfour, who's charged with murdering three of Jennifer Hudson's relatives.
One of Balfour's girlfriends testified that he admitted to the killings, and asked her to provide an alibi.
Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson is the "star" at William Balfour's trial, but it was a "star witness" who stole the show Friday.
Shonta Cathey was one of Balfour's four girlfriends in 2008. She said he was spending three to four nights a week with her, while separated from Hudson's sister Julia.
Caffey told the jury that on the day that Hudson's mother and brother were found shot to death, Balfour showed up at her home around 3 p.m. and said, "Anybody asked, he was there at ten."
"They got shot," Cathey said Balfour told her, "Her mother and her brother. He said the brother rushed him, and he shot him, and the mother came downstairs and he shot her."
The South Side woman asked Balfour about Hudson's missing 7-year-old nephew, Julian King. Balfour told her he was outside.
As Cathey told her story, Jennifer Hudson buried her head in her hands, occasionally wiping tears from her face, her fiance wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
When police arrived, Cathey said she stuck with Balfours story.
"I was in love with him and I didn't want him to get in any trouble," she testified.
But after a night in police custody, she said, she finally told the truth - that he had admitted to the crime and she was covering for him.
On cross examination, Balfour's attorney asked Caffey whether she suspected that Balfour, the night before the murders, had spend the night with another woman, suggesting that Caffey pointed the finger at Balfour out of anger about his relationships with other women..
FBI Agent Nikki Skovran also testified in the Jennifer Hudson family murder trial on Friday, about cell phone evidence detected on the day of the murders.
She said that suspect William Balfour's phone "pinged" off the cell tower that is closest to the family's home in Englewood.
Balfour is on trial for the murders of Jennifer Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson; her brother, Jason Hudson; and her nephew, Julian King. Balfour is the ex-husband of Jennifer's sister Julia.
On Thursday, witnesses testified that they had heard Balfour call his wife and in-laws names and threaten to kill them.
One witness who is so hard-of-hearing that she needed questions read to her testified that she could hear a loud argument between Balfour and Julia Hudson on the street.
Another witness, Diana Grant, who said she was one of Balfour's three girlfriends said that he left her house at 6 a.m. on the morning of the murders. Grant said that Balfour asked her to be his alibi, but she backed out. The first two of the three murders happened around 9 a.m.
Witnesses also testified that Balfour and Jason Hudson dealt drugs. The defense has suggested that the murders were in retaliation for a drug deal.
A week into the trial, Jennifer Hudson continues to be escorted into and out of the courtroom with personal security guards.
She's had nothing to say publicly on the proceedings so far.
Court will resume Friday morning with an emergency motion at 9:30 a.m. so that the judge can rule o whether media will get access to a 911 tape entered into evidence this week.
Testimony is scheduled to resume at 10:45 a.m. at the Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California in Chicago.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
