A plane full of loved ones left North Carolina with birthday plans and holiday excitement. Within minutes, tragedy struck.
According to PEOPLE, Cristina Grossu Biffle sent one final text to her mother just before the private jet carrying the family crashed — a message that now haunts every memory surrounding the final hours of NASCAR champion Greg Biffle, his wife, and their children.
It was a simple, devastating warning:
“We’re in trouble.”
That was the last message Cathy Grossu ever received from her daughter.
“She texted me from the plane and she said, ‘We’re in trouble.’ And that was it,” Cathy told PEOPLE. “So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.”
The Dec. 18 crash killed all seven passengers on board: Greg, 55; Cristina; their son Ryder, 5; Greg’s 14-year-old daughter Emma; and family friends Dennis Dutton, his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth.
They were headed south on what Cristina’s mother described as a “birthday trip,” a chance for the family to celebrate and unwind.
“To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,” Cathy 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.”
Cathy spoke through tears, recalling how she saw Greg and Cristina just the day before. They were laughing, relaxed, preparing for the weekend ahead.
“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 know we hugged, but I don’t remember those last words and that’s going to haunt me.”
She described Ryder and Emma — both gone far too young — as bright, joyful children who “embraced every aspect of their life.”
Greg, too, she said, was more than a racing legend. “They touched so many people’s lives,” Cathy shared. “It is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”
Cristina spent her final night preparing handwritten letters to Santa for families who needed a spark of holiday magic.
“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.
“So I ran over and got ’em … she put them in envelopes and finished them all up … and that would be the last thing that she would’ve done.”
Friends echoed the same portrait of Cristina — generous, driven, endlessly kind.
“She had the biggest heart,” said friend Erica Zangwill, describing Cristina as “one in a million.”
The first wave of reports about the plane crash did not confirm the identities of those on board. Hours later, Rep. Richard Hudson shared the heartbreaking news publicly.
“I am devastated by the loss of Greg, Cristina, and their children,” Hudson posted. “Greg was a great NASCAR champion … but he was an extraordinary person as well.”
The families of the Biffles, and of the others lost, released a joint statement:
“We are devastated by the loss of our loved ones. This tragedy has left all of our families heartbroken beyond words.”
