OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:29 AM – Friday, December 19, 2025
Cristina Grossu Biffle, wife of NASCAR champion Greg Biffle, reportedly sent a chilling text message to her mother just moments before the fatal plane crash that tragically killed the couple and their family.
On Thursday, just before her death, Cristina, 35, texted her mother, Cathy Grossu: “We’re in trouble,” she told the press, holding back tears.
Although it was initially reported that six people died in the crash, authorities later announced that seven people died after the Biffle family’s Cessna C550 private jet crashed while attempting to land at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina, at around 10:15 a.m. on Thursday.
The plane had been headed to Sarasota, Florida, where the Biffles planned to visit a family friend. After turning back, however, it crashed and caught fire at the airport, roughly 45 minutes from Charlotte.
The victims included Greg and Cristina Biffle, their 5-year-old son Ryder and Biffle’s 14-year-old daughter Emma, from Biffle’s earlier marriage to Nicole Lunders. NASCAR star Craig Wadsworth, as well as pilot Dennis Dutton and his son Jack Dutton, 19, also died in the crash.
Cristina’s mother lamented that the group was headed to the Sunshine State to celebrate a birthday.
“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’s just — it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”
She also noted that she had seen both Biffle and her daughter Cristina just hours earlier, as they visited her at home.
“I don’t remember what the last words that I said to my daughter or to Greg or to my precious Ryder,” she explained. “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.”
Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) driver Garrett Mitchell, a close friend of Biffle, confirmed the family’s deaths in a social media statement on Thursday, as initial reports of the crash did not identify the victims.
“Unfortunately, I can confirm Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina, daughter Emma, and son Ryder were on that plane… because they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us. We are devastated. I’m so sorry to share this,” Mitchell wrote.
U.S. Representative Richard Lane Hudson (R-N.C.), another friend of the family, also responded to the tragic crash.
“I am devastated by the loss of Greg, Cristina, and their children, and my heart is with all who loved them,” Hudson wrote in a statement on X.
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