WYOMING, MI -- To Marcia Johnson, the death of her nephew in a wrong-way crash on U.S. 131 “doesn’t seem real yet.”

“Everyone is so shocked,” Johnson said Tuesday, July 31, a day after the crash.

She was helping the family of her nephew, 29-year-old Carl David Russo, move belongings out of their Wyoming home for a long-planned move to property further north.

In fact, Russo was at the home Monday helping his father load items for several hours. They worked until after dark, then Russo started for his home in the Howard City area.

The crash happened soon after.

His father, also Carl Russo, recalled the moments before his son left that evening. Emotion filled his voice.

“We were finally done and he gave me a big super tight hug and said he loved me,” the older Russo said. “The last thing I said to him was 'I love you too.”

He remembered telling him to have a safe drive.

Russo was driving his girlfriend’s car, not the pickup truck he often drove, when another vehicle going the wrong way on northbound U.S. 131 slammed into the car about 11:30 p.m. Monday, July 29. The other driver, a 30-year-old woman, also died in the crash.

The Russo family learned that another driver just in front of his car swerved at the last minute to avoid the wrong-way driver and that there was no time for him to react.

Police indicated the wrong-way driver was seen near the S-curve moments earlier, but it’s not clear where her vehicle entered the freeway. The crash happened near Hall Street.

A puppy belonging to Russo’s girlfriend was in the car and also perished.

Tuesday morning, when Russo didn’t show up in Howard City and she couldn’t reach him, his girlfriend came to Grand Rapids to look for him. She happened upon the crash scene while preparing to head back home.

Russo worked part-time for his girlfriend’s father doing pavement sealing, but also part-time at the Howard City restaurant Catch 120 Grill.

Carl and Gail Russo, the parents, stopped at the restaurant Tuesday evening and found many people there who were friends with their son.

“We knew he had a lot of friends up there, but not to that extent,” his father said. “Strangers were coming up to us and telling us how much they loved him.”

The father said his son “loved life and loved God,” but also was an avid hunter and fisherman.

“He could walk all day in the woods,” he said.