New witnesses for Zhao-Beckenridge inquiry

Otago Daily Times

21-04-2025

John Beckenridge's car is recovered from Curio Bay in 2015. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
The inquiry into the disappearance of Mike Zhao-Beckenridge in the Catlins a decade ago resumes today.
Mike Zhao-Beckenridge. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
A coroner's hearing was adjourned in 2023 after two weeks of evidence into the case of the missing 11-year-old and his stepfather, John Beckenridge, whose car was found after it plunged 90m off a cliff near Curio Bay.
No bodies were ever found and, while the police believe it to be a murder-suicide, Mike's mother, Fiona Lu, believes her son is still alive and the presumed deaths staged.
One News reported the hearing would resume today with fresh evidence from five new witnesses.
The new information to be presented at the Coroner's Court includes a further report from an expert who examined discharged items at the remote cliff top.
After Ms Lu and Mr Beckenridge separated, Mr Beckenridge, a Queenstown helicopter pilot, broke a court order and drove to Invercargill to pick up his stepson from school on March 13, 2015.
The boy was upset by a court order to live with his mother, and 20 emails to his stepfather were read out during the first stage of the hearing.
John Beckenridge. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
He said he hated his mother and "she f..... up my life so bad".
Mr Beckenridge's final text to the boy's mother was also read out.
"You have destroyed my life and Mike's. Me and Mike are leaving now on the Midnight Express 3 mins to departure. Bye my love and thanks for everything JB and MB [sic]."
Ms Lu said her ex-husband, who used four aliases, was capable of faking his death and disappearing.
A New Zealand woman on holiday in Gili Air Island in Indonesia contacted police to report seeing the boy and his stepfather together three months after the car was found submerged.
She told the coroner she was "100% sure" she had seen them.
Family private investigator Mark Templeman told Coroner Marcus Elliott that Ms Lu believed her son, who would now be 21, would contact her when he was no longer under the influence of his stepfather.
— APL