Stepfather, boy used code in messages, witness says

The coroner’s hearing looking into the disappearance of John Beckenridge and his stepson has been told about two code names used in text messages sent by the former.

The 64-year-old man and 11-year-old boy went missing in March 2015.

Beckenridge’s four-wheel drive was later found in the sea at the bottom of a cliff in the Catlins, but their bodies have never been found. The coroner is holding a hearing to determine if John Beckenridge and Mike ZhouBeckenridge are missing or dead.

Detective Aaron Dempsey looked into communication from the boy and his stepfather in the leadup and following their disappearance. He said before their disappearance a phone used by John Beckenridge sent some cryptic messages.

Dempsey read out the messages: ‘‘Falcon, the one that has 603 at the end. Ozprey.’’ ‘‘Remember check the phone list. Either Falcon or Ozprey. The one that ends on 603, okay.’’ The 603 number seemed to refer to the phone used by Beckenridge, the hearing was told.

Dempsey said he believed Beckenridge and Mike were Ozprey and Falcon, and the former was sending messages to his stepson.

Dempsey said he had also looked into reports from a friend of Mike’s that he had been shown on several occasions what Beckenridge had described as a satellite phone. The friend’s father had also been shown the phone described as a sat phone once.

Dempsey said he made inquiries, including whether Beckenridge was paying for a subscription with any satellite phone providers, but felt confident he did not have one.

He said Beckenridge had an airto-ground phone which looked similar to a satellite phone, but sold it in 2014. When shown a picture of the air-to-ground phone Mike’s friend agreed it did look like the phone he had seen.