Cristina Biffle, wife of NASCAR star Greg Biffle, sent a troubling text message just before the couple and their kids died with three others in a plane crash on Thursday.
Cristina sent a text to her mom, Cathy Grossu, that read: “We’re in trouble,” according to PEOPLE.
“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.”
Cristina, Greg, and their children, Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, were in a business jet that crashed in North Carolina on Thursday. They were joined on the flight by Dennis Dutton, his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth, according to the Associated Press. Those three also died in the crash.
According to the AP, the plane departed Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, before trying to return to the Statesville airport and land. The Cessna C550 erupted in flames as it hit the ground when it tried to land.
Federal investigators are looking into what caused the plane to crash, as well as why it returned to the airport shortly after takeoff, according to the AP.
Greg Biffle won 19 NASCAR Cup Series races in his career and had 175 top-10 finishes.
He was also named the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year and won the 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship, as well as the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series Championship.
Biffle’s last NASCAR Cup Series race was the 2022 Geico 500 in Talladega.