John Beckenridge, left, and Mike Zhao-Beckenridge Photo: SUPPLIED
Warning: This story discusses details of suicide
A former colleague and friend of John Beckenridge says he received a letter that disturbed him so much he destroyed it.
Wayne Dawson, a retired helicopter pilot who lives in Australia, previously worked with Beckenridge at Pacific Helicopters in Papua New Guinea.
On Friday, he told the coroner's hearing into the 2015 disappearance of Beckenridge and his stepson, Mike Zhao-Beckenridge, 11, that the pair kept in regular email and Skype contact after Beckenridge stopped working for the company to fight for custody of Mike.
On 16 March, three days after Mike was taken from his Invercargill school, Dawson received a letter from his former colleague.
"I was very disturbed by the tone of the letter and the content and I did not want to believe what I was reading so I threw the letter away."
He said he did not remember most of the exact wording of the letter, but one phrase had stuck in his mind for the last eight years: "Forgive me for what I'm going to do."
He believed Beckenridge was planning to do "something drastic and nasty" - possibly commit suicide.
After reading the letter a couple of times, Dawson tore it up and put it in the bin, he said.
It was "quite different" to his other communications with Beckenridge and he convinced himself he was watching too many movies.
Dawson said he regretted not contacting police at the time, but did not know how.
Under questioning from Mark Templeman, the private investigator assisting Mike's family, Dawson said he did not believe Beckenridge would hurt Mike.
After Beckenridge took Mike from his school about lunchtime on 13 March, 2015, the pair were seen repeatedly around the Catlins area between 15 and 18 March.
On the afternoon of 20 March, they 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 the 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. Beckenridge and Mike remain on police's missing persons list.
The coroner has heard two weeks of submissions in Christchurch and will decide whether Mike and his stepfather are "likely dead".
The hearing continues, with a statement from Mike's mother expected on Friday afternoon.
Summary of case
- Mike Zhao-Beckenridge was picked up from school at lunchtime by his stepfather John on 13 March, 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 the last two weeks, a coroner has been considering whether the pair are "likely dead"
Where to get help:
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