Friend of missing boy got message

• Published date: 25 May 2023
• Publication title: Southland Express

The friend, who was 12 at the time of the message in May 2016, said the unknown user messaged him on Minecraft, a game he and Mike would play together, asking for him by name and making reference to a username only Mike would know. He had also bought new games to play in hopes of finding Mike

Swedish-born helicopter pilot John Beckenridge broke a court order and picked up his 11-year-old stepson, Mike, from his Invercargill school on March 13, 2015.

The pair have been missing ever since in one of New Zealand’s most baffling missing persons cases.

Heartbreaking texts Fiona Lu received from her son before his disappearance read: ‘‘You do not deserve to be my mum. You certainly do not deserve my love.’’

A week after the pair’s disappearance, Mr Beckenridge’s dark-blue 4WD Volkswagen Touareg went off a 90m cliff near Curio Bay.

It took police six weeks to recover the battered wreck from the treacherous waters and there was no sign of any bodies.

However, Ms Lu is convinced her son is still alive and her former partner staged the pair’s deaths after she moved her son away from Mr Beckenridge’s Queenstown home to Invercargill with her new partner.

Now, coroner Marcus Elliot will look into the case in the Christchurch District Court to consider whether it is likely...