‘He will reach out’: Mike Beckenridge’s mum believes she will hear from son

• Mike Zhao-Beckenridge was picked up from school at lunchtime by his stepfather John on March 13, 2015.
• Apart from three sightings in the days following, the pair were never seen again
• Two months later, Beckenridge’s car was pulled from the rough waters of Curio Bay, Southland
• No forensic evidence was found in the car, but there was also no evidence the pair ever left Southland
• Over two weeks, a coroner will determine whether the pair are “likely dead”

The coroner has heard two opposing views of what may have happened to 11-year-old Mike Zhao-Beckenride and his stepfather John Beckenridge after they disappeared in 2015.

Police believe a fatal cocktail of obsession, loss of control and a mental breakdown lead John Beckenridge to drive himself and his stepsonoff a cliff along the rugged Catlins coastline.

However, Mark Templeman, who is representing Mike’s mother Fiona Lu and her partner Peter Russell, told Coroner Elliot that there is not sufficient evidence to rule that the pair are deceased and that John “cared too much” about Mike to hurt him.

He also told the Coroner that Lu believes she will hear from her son again.

READ MORE:
* Baffling case of missing boy and stepdad could end in coroner ruling them dead
* Five years on, still no sign of southern schoolboy and stepfather
* Zhao-Beckenridge: the truth is out there

On March 13, 2015, Mike was taken by Beckenridge, 64, from his Invercargill school about lunchtime. The pair were seen multiple times around the Catlins area between March 15 and 18.

On the afternoon of March 20, the pair sent a series of “concerning” text messages to friends, and to Mike’s mother. This was the last evidence to suggest the pair were alive.

Two days later, car parts and clothing belonging to both started to wash ashore along nearby coastline. Months later, Beckenridge’s car was pulled from the rough waters of Curio Bay.

After an extensive investigation, police referred the case to the coroner in 2019. The pair remain on the police’s missing persons list.

Deirdre Elsmore, counsel for the New Zealand police, told the coroner that the only inference that can be drawn from the evidence is that Mike and John died when Beckenridge’s car plunged off the cliff near Curio Bay.

“That’s the police submission that in the period after the loss of custody of Mike, it’s lead to a significant deterioration in his mental health and a real sense of desperation,” she said.

Mike’s mother, Fiona Lu, was granted full custody of the 11-year-old in late February 2015, following a family court decision.

Elsmore described Beckenridge’s relationship with Mike as obsessive and controlling, and that he displayed “absolute white hatred” for his ex-wife Fiona.

“You might be left wondering that it is no coincidence that the two have died in circumstances that have left Fiona wondering whether they’re dead or alive. Whether that is what might have been the intention, the ultimate punishment for her betrayal,” she put to Coroner Elliot.

The police believe John Beckenridge lacked the funds, the support of associates and the mental clarity to be able to pull off “an extremely difficult, complicated escape”, she said.

During what police have labelled an extensive investigation, Ms Elsmore said police found no evidence to support the international escape theory.

“There were no conversations about finding boats or finding trains or hiding cars or any of the kinds of conversations that would have needed to have taken place in order to leave this very isolated part of the South Island and stay hidden”, she said.

Ms Elsmore did concede that in the absence of bodies, there is no conclusive evidence that Mike and John died.

Regardless, she said that on the balance of probabilities, the pair are deceased and therefore the coroner has jurisdiction.

The family position is, however, that the pair are still alive and residing under assumed identities overseas.

Templeman said the driving of the car over the cliff was staged to create the false impression that John and Mike were in the vehicle and had committed suicide.

Three times Mike urged John not to give his mother his passport, which the family said was evidence that Mike knew about the plan.

“[Mike’s] comments about his passport are not those of someone contemplating suicide, but of someone wanting to leave the country,” Templeman said.

The family said that John simply cared too much about Mike, to cause him harm.

“We also don’t believe that John would have put an 11-year-old boy… through the mental ordeal of watching him mark out the path for their suicide, wait while he and John sent texts to various people, and then sit in the car while John drove 90 metres and over the cliff top,” Templeman said.

He reiterated that the family believe the pair were either picked up by an associate, or had access to a second car.

He also said the family is open to the idea that John and Mike had left the Catlins before the car even went over the cliff and were instead helped by an unknown person to get the car into the water.

Templeman highlighted John’s history of changing his names, and his skills building, piloting helicopters and diving as ways he could be earning an income overseas.

He also said John and Mike might be telling those around them a version of events that presented the pair as victims to gain sympathy.

He told Coroner Elliot there is not enough evidence to conclusively say that the pair are dead and ended by telling the court that Mike’s mother believes that when he is no longer under the influence of his stepfather, he will reach out to her.

The hearing continues.