The Coroner's hearing looking into whether a Queenstown man and his step-son are dead has today been told the boy's family believe the pair are alive and living overseas under assumed identities.
John Beckenridge and his step-son Mike Zhou-Beckenridge disappeared in March 20-15, and their car was found crashed at the bottom of a steep cliff in the Catlins.
A Coroner's hearing is being held to work out if they are missing, or dead. Today the hearing heard the two opposing views of the police and the boy's family about their fate.
Rachel Graham has been at the hearing.
