The Top 10 Everything of 2008

2. A Dreamgirl's Nightmare

Even for Englewood — one of most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the South Side of Chicago — the details were gruesome: a grandmother slain in her home; her adult son shot shortly before through the kitchen window; her 7-year-old grandson missing, his bullet-riddled body later discovered in an abandoned SUV. The boy's stepfather remains accused of all three Oct. 24 murders. Yet it was not the victims themselves who caught the world's attention, but rising Hollywood star Jennifer Hudson. The 27-year-old actress first won fans' hearts as a failed contestant on American Idol, then in her Oscar-winning role in the 2006 blockbuster, Dreamgirls. But she was also a beloved daughter, sister, aunt — and now, survivor.

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