Texts missing son Mike Zhao-Beckenridge sent to mum Fiona Lu before he disappeared with stepfather John Beckenridge from Invercargill, New Zealand in 2015, it has been revealed
Mike Zhao-Beckenridge and John Beckenridge went missing March 2015. Their car was found at the bottom of a cliff. Family believes they faked their deaths.
A boy who went missing eight years ago sent his mother a text saying ‘you don’t deserve my love’ shortly before he disappeared.
Mike Zhao-Beckenridge’s stepfather, John Beckenridge, picked up the then 11-year-old boy from his school in Invercargill, on the southern tip of New Zealand, on March 13, 2015.
The couple were quickly reported missing to the police and their fingerprints were found at a campsite in the nearby Haldane Estuary.
On March 22, Mike and Mr Beckenridge’s personal belongings, including clothes and car parts, were found washed ashore in the Curio Bay area.
The car Mr Beckenridge was driving was later found submerged at the bottom of an 88-metre cliff.
Mike Zhao-Beckenridge (above) went missing with his stepfather John Beckenridge on March 13, 2015 – the car they were driving was later found at the bottom of an 88m cliff.
Ms Lu received text messages from Mike in the days leading up to his disappearance
However, a recent inquest into the pair’s disappearance and possible deaths – which concluded in late June – heard it would be ‘dangerous’ to assume they were dead, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Mike’s mother Fiona Luo has repeatedly said the pair’s international visits and the mysterious circumstances surrounding their disappearance have led her to ‘firmly believe’ they are still alive.
The last words Mrs. Lou heard from Mike came in the form of an ominous message after their departure to Invercargill.
One read: ‘You don’t deserve to be my mother or to be called Fiona and you certainly don’t deserve my love. From Mike.’
Mr Beckenridge and Ms Lu met in 2006 and moved to Lake Hayes, about 15 kilometers east of Queenstown, where Mike, who is of Chinese descent, was looked after by Ms Lu’s parents.
However, their relationship broke down and Mrs Lou moved to Invercargill in 2014 with Mike and his new partner.
Mike’s mother Fiona Lou (above) believes the couple are still alive and have fled the country on a yacht to live abroad with new identities.
Despite being given full custody of his mother, Mike sent several messages to Mr. Beckenridge begging him to let him return to his home in Lake Hayes.
Five emails from February, 2015, read: ‘How’s my life going*. i hate my mom actually she is not even my mom she made my life so bad i hate her i have no love [her]. I hope she dies painfully.
‘I don’t want to stay here dad please I beg you I cry everyday for you I miss you so much dad.
‘Remember you said you would kill. well me too
‘Find me dad and you said we could do it.
‘I have so many things to ask dad but mum will never let me talk to you I want to kill myself from Mike I love you so much.’
Mr Beckenridge’s car was recovered from the Curio Bay cliffs on May 6, almost two months after he went missing.
Private investigator Mark Templeman said in a recent inquest that the family believed Mike and Mr Beckenridge (above) faked their deaths.
Both of them had no marks inside their bodies.
Mike would be 18 years old if he lived.
Private investigator Mark Templeman told the inquest that the family believed Mike and Mr Beckenridge had faked their deaths and used a yacht to travel abroad under new identities.
He has several international sightings of the pair and is thought to be evidence that they may be alive, as they camped before driving off the mountain.
‘It would be dangerous if John and Mike Beckenridge died because all international monitoring would stop – exactly what John wanted to do,’ he said, reports Stuff.co.nz.
Mr Templeman also pointed to a ‘countdown calendar’ found at Mr Beckenridge’s estate after they went missing.
‘I submit that you count escape on a calendar as opposed to committing suicide,’ he said.
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