Some stories hit harder because they’re so brutally simple. This one comes down to three words. No warning. No context. Just truth.
“She texted me from the plane and she said, ‘We’re in trouble,’” Cathy Grossu told People on Friday, her voice breaking. “So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.”
That message, sent by Cristina Biffle to her mother, is now the final known communication from a woman who knew—at least in that moment—that something was terribly wrong. Minutes later, the plane went down in North Carolina, killing everyone on board.
As reported by Huffington Post, the crash claimed seven lives, including retired NASCAR champion Greg Biffle, 55, his wife Cristina, 35, their five-year-old son Ryder, and Biffle’s 14-year-old daughter Emma, whom he shared with his ex-wife Nicole Lunders. What should have been a routine flight turned into a sudden, irreversible loss.
What makes it even more painful is how ordinary the day before had been.
Grossu said the family had been at her home just one day earlier. They were happy, relaxed, making plans. The trip was meant to be a birthday getaway to Florida. Greg Biffle was about to turn 56 the following Tuesday. Nothing about the moment suggested it would be their last together.
“I don’t remember what the last words that I said to my daughter or to Greg or to my precious Ryder,” Grossu 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.”
That’s the kind of detail that sticks with you—the not remembering. The hugs without the words. The normal goodbye that turns out to be final.
Also killed in the crash were registered pilot Dennis Dutton and his son Jack, along with Craig Wadsworth, described as a beloved motorhome driver for NASCAR racers. The aircraft, a Cessna C550 twin-engine private jet, crashed at Statesville Regional Airport outside Charlotte.
Federal flight records reviewed by NBC affiliate WCNC show Dennis Dutton was cleared to fly that type of aircraft, but only with a second-in-command present. The records also show that Jack Dutton had recently earned certification as a single-engine pilot. Greg Biffle himself had reportedly been certified in March to fly a multi-engine plane. Officials have not yet confirmed who was piloting the jet at the time of the crash.
Those are facts investigators will sort through. For the families, they’re just details circling a much larger, heavier reality.
“To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,” Grossu said. “And to see the horrific way that it ended, it’s just, it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”
The loss has rippled far beyond the family. Video shared on social media showed thick smoke rising from the airport in the moments after the crash. Tributes followed quickly. Fans remembered Greg Biffle not just as a NASCAR champion, but as someone who showed up for others—most notably last year, when he used his own helicopter to help rescue stranded North Carolinians after Hurricane Helene.
He was someone associated with action and control. Speed. Precision. That makes the randomness of this ending even harder to process.
“They embraced every aspect of their life and every moment,” Grossu said. “And it’s such a loss. They touched so many people’s lives. It is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”
In the end, what lingers isn’t the crash report or the credentials or the unanswered questions. It’s that text. Three words sent in what had to be a moment of fear and urgency.
“We’re in trouble.”
