Missing Invercargill boy Mike Zhao-Beckenridge’s desperate pleas to see his stepfather led him to calling the police, claiming his mother had assaulted him, a court has been told.
The boy also repeatedly sent his Queenstown-based stepfather emails begging him to answer, even threatening he would harm himself if he couldn’t be with him.
Swedish-born helicopter pilot John Beckenridge broke a court order and picked up his 11-year-old stepson from his Invercargill school on March 13 in 2015.
The pair have been missing ever since, in one of New Zealand’s most baffling missing persons cases.
Now, Coroner Marcus Elliot is looking into the case at the Christchurch District Court to consider whether it is likely that the pair are dead.
The hearing, which began on Monday, was expected to take two weeks and will hear evidence from witnesses, including someone who believes she spotted the pair overseas four months after their disappearance.
A week after the pair’s disappearance, Beckenridge’s dark-blue 4WD Volkswagen Touareg went off an almost 90-metre cliff near Curio Bay in the Catlins, but when police recovered the vehicle there was no sign of bodies.
However, Lu is convinced her son is still alive and her former partner staged the pair’s death after she moved her son away from Beckenridge’s Queenstown home to Invercargill with her new partner.
Police have spent thousands of hours investigating the case but have had no success in finding out what happened. Mike would now be aged 18.
On Tuesday, the court heard from Constable Dave McLardy, who attended the call from Mike as well as a call from Beckenridge, who was concerned for his stepson’s safety.
McLardy attended Lu’s partner Peter Russell’s property where Mike said his mother had hit him but later admitted he lied, hoping his allegation would get him sent back to live with his stepfather.
McLardy spoke to Mike, describing him as a “stubborn child”, but left the home feeling satisfied with Mike’s wellbeing.
“He was dead set on getting what he wanted, he wouldn’t listen to what anyone was trying to tell him."
Several days later, McLardy received a call from Beckenridge, who had received multiple emails from Mike, claiming he would harm himself.
Beckenridge was concerned for his stepson’s safety and wanted the officer to do a welfare check.
The emails reveal Mike begging Beckenridge to come get him and his frustration toward his mother for not letting him see his stepfather, claiming he hated her and talked about suicide.
Included in the tranche of disturbing emails revealed in today’s hearing was at least one where Mike threatened self-harm.
“Help me dad get out of here please,” he wrote in one email.
“I love u and I don’t want to life my life like this [sic].
"Please I’m begging I cri for u everyday,” he wrote in others.
As well as professing his love for his stepfather he also said: “Find me dad and u said we could do that thing.”
In another exchange he said: "I miss u so much and I love u can u please come here and we start kill?”
On Monday Lisa Preston, KC, assisting the Coroner, outlined the case.
Beckenridge met Mike’s mother Lu, who is from China, in 2006. Lu’s parents were raising Mike at the time.
The pair later moved with Mike to New Zealand, where they were based in Queenstown. Their relationship broke down in 2014. Shortly after that, Lu moved to Invercargill.
In February 2015, the Queenstown Family Court made an order that Lu had care of Mike.
On March 13 of that year Beckenridge dropped off a box of documents and a letter for his Queenstown-based lawyer, asking him to contact his friend in relation to his trust fund and estate.
The letter read: “It will now be up to him how to do with what is left of my ‘belongings’! Thanks for your assistance over the years. Very helpfull!” (sic).
That same day, Beckenridge took Mike from his school sometime between a pre-lunch roll call and the end of the day and drove them to the southern Catlins area.
Police were alerted and a search party was launched, with concerns raised about the risk of a murder-suicide. Border alerts were put in place, including for Beckenridge’s aliases Knut Goran Roland Lundh (his birth name), John Robert Lundh and John Bradford.
On March 19, police located a campsite off Weir Rd on the Haldane Estuary and the pair’s fingerprints were detected on some items.
The next day Beckenridge’s friends began receiving “concerning” texts from him, stating the “Gestapo” was after him and Mike, and they would soon be getting on the “Midnight Express” for departure.
Heartbreaking messages to Lu from Mike expressed his frustration at her not listening to him, stating: “You do not deserve to be my mum or to be called Fiona and you certainly do not deserve my love. From Mike.”
Beckenridge also sent a message to Lu, thanking her for being his wife while also accusing her of lying and deceiving.
On March 22, items belonging to the Beckenridges, such as clothes and car parts, washed ashore in the Curio Bay area. Soon after Beckenridge’s vehicle was found at the bottom of the cliff in the water.
Police have found no evidence to date of a planned escape past the Catlins nor evidence the Beckenridges had left the Catlins.
However, to date, police have had 60 suspected sightings of the Beckenridges or their vehicle, some of which have been deemed unlikely or eliminated.
Information about possible sightings continues to be reported from people in New Zealand and from Kiwis who say they have had an encounter whilst on holiday overseas.
The hearing before Coroner Elliot continues.
- By Emily Moorhouse
Open Justice multimedia journalist, Christchurch
SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION
Where to get help:
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
• What's Up: 0800 942 8787 (11am to11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• Helpline: 1737
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
