NASCAR champion Greg Biffle’s wife, Cristina, sent a final, chilling text message just moments before the plane crash that killed the couple, their children and three others, according to Cristina’s mother.
Cristina Grossu Biffle texted her mother, Cathy Grossu, shortly before the crash on Thursday, Dec. 18, writing: “We’re in trouble,” Cathy said.
“She texted me from the plane and she said, ‘We’re in trouble.’ And that was it,” Cathy said through tears. “So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.”
Seven people were killed in the crash: Greg, 55; Cristina; their 5-year-old son, Ryder; and Greg’s 14-year-old daughter, Emma, whom he shared with ex-wife Nicole Lunders. Also among the victims were Dennis Dutton and his son Jack, along with Craig Wadsworth.
The group was traveling to Florida for what Cathy described as a “birthday trip.”
“To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,” she said. “And to see the horrific way that it ended — it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”
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Cathy said she had seen the couple just the day before the crash, when they visited her home.
“I don’t remember what the last words that I said to my daughter or to Greg or to my precious Ryder,” she said. “I don’t remember. I know we hugged, but I don’t remember those last words and that’s going to haunt me. But they were happy.”
She described Greg, Ryder and Emma as full of life, devoted to doing good, and deeply present in the way they lived.
“They embraced every aspect of their life and every moment,” she said. “And it’s such a loss. They touched so many people’s lives.”
Cathy also shared that one of her last conversations with Cristina was about a charity effort involving Santa letters Cristina had been preparing and mailing to families in need.
“She said, ‘Mom, can you go pick up the last 17 letters that are at Staples? I want to get them in the mail before I get on the plane tomorrow,’” Cathy recalled.
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Cathy said she picked up the letters and dropped them at the couple’s home, and that Cristina finished packaging them that night so they could be sent out.
“That would be the last thing that she would’ve done,” Cathy said.
Cristina’s friend Erica Zangwill also remembered her as someone who consistently put others first.
“She had the biggest heart,” Zangwill said, adding that Cristina “loved helping other people before herself.” Zangwill, the President and CEO of the Carolina Aviators Network, called her “a one in a million individual.”
Early reports about the crash did not identify the victims. Later, Rep. Richard Hudson confirmed in a statement on X that the Biffle family had died.
“I am devastated by the loss of Greg, Cristina, and their children, and my heart is with all who loved them,” Hudson wrote.
“They were friends who lived their lives focused on helping others. Greg was a great NASCAR champion who thrilled millions of fans. But he was an extraordinary person as well, and will be remembered for his service to others as much as for his fearlessness on the track.”
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the families of the Biffles, the Duttons and Wadsworth also mourned the loss.
“We are devastated by the loss of our loved ones. This tragedy has left all of our families heartbroken beyond words,” the statement read.
