diff --git a/lib/src/comment_references/model_comment_reference.dart b/lib/src/comment_references/model_comment_reference.dart
index 4139628199..960923e5c9 100644
--- a/lib/src/comment_references/model_comment_reference.dart
+++ b/lib/src/comment_references/model_comment_reference.dart
@@ -4,82 +4,26 @@
 //
 
 import 'package:analyzer/dart/ast/ast.dart';
-import 'package:analyzer/dart/element/element.dart';
-import 'package:analyzer/file_system/file_system.dart';
 import 'package:dartdoc/src/comment_references/parser.dart';
 
-abstract class ModelCommentReference {
-  String get codeRef;
-  bool get hasCallableHint;
-  List<String> get referenceBy;
-  Element? get staticElement;
-
-  /// Construct a [ModelCommentReference] using the analyzer AST.
-  factory ModelCommentReference(
-          CommentReference ref, ResourceProvider resourceProvider) =>
-      _ModelCommentReferenceImpl(ref, resourceProvider);
-
-  /// Construct a [ModelCommentReference] given a raw string.
-  factory ModelCommentReference.synthetic(String codeRef) =>
-      _ModelCommentReferenceImpl.synthetic(codeRef, null);
-}
-
 /// A stripped down analyzer AST [CommentReference] containing only that
-/// information needed for Dartdoc.  Drops link to the [CommentReference]
-/// and [ResourceProvider] after construction.
-class _ModelCommentReferenceImpl implements ModelCommentReference {
-  @override
+/// information needed for Dartdoc.
+class ModelCommentReference {
   final String codeRef;
 
-  @override
   bool get hasCallableHint =>
       parsed.isNotEmpty &&
       ((parsed.length > 1 && parsed.last.text == 'new') ||
           parsed.last is CallableHintEndNode);
 
-  @override
   List<String> get referenceBy => parsed
       .whereType<IdentifierNode>()
       .map<String>((i) => i.text)
       .toList(growable: false);
 
-  @override
-  final Element? staticElement;
-
-  _ModelCommentReferenceImpl(
-      CommentReference ref, ResourceProvider resourceProvider)
-      : codeRef = _referenceText(ref, resourceProvider),
-        staticElement = ref.expression.element;
-
-  _ModelCommentReferenceImpl.synthetic(this.codeRef, this.staticElement);
-
-  /// "Unparse" the code reference into the raw text associated with the
-  /// [CommentReference].
-  static String _referenceText(
-      CommentReference ref, ResourceProvider resourceProvider) {
-    var token = (ref.parent as Comment)
-        .tokens
-        .firstWhere((t) => t.offset <= ref.offset && t.end >= ref.end);
-    // This is a little sketchy, but works since comments happen to be a token
-    // that is fully preserved in its string representation.
-    // TODO(jcollins-g): replace unparsing in general with lower level changes.
-    return token
-        .toString()
-        .substring(ref.offset - token.offset, ref.end - token.offset);
-  }
+  /// Constructs a [ModelCommentReference] given a raw string.
+  ModelCommentReference(this.codeRef);
 
   late final List<CommentReferenceNode> parsed =
       CommentReferenceParser(codeRef).parse();
 }
-
-extension on CommentReferableExpression {
-  Element? get element {
-    var self = this;
-    return switch (self) {
-      PrefixedIdentifier() => self.staticElement,
-      PropertyAccess() => self.propertyName.staticElement,
-      SimpleIdentifier() => self.staticElement,
-      _ => null
-    };
-  }
-}
diff --git a/lib/src/generator/templates.runtime_renderers.dart b/lib/src/generator/templates.runtime_renderers.dart
index 0af6eef2bc..a68685cb98 100644
--- a/lib/src/generator/templates.runtime_renderers.dart
+++ b/lib/src/generator/templates.runtime_renderers.dart
@@ -17009,14 +17009,7 @@ const _invisibleGetters = {
     'superclassConstraints'
   },
   'ModelElementRenderer': {'hashCode', 'runtimeType'},
-  'ModelNode': {
-    'commentRefs',
-    'element',
-    'hashCode',
-    'resourceProvider',
-    'runtimeType',
-    'sourceCode'
-  },
+  'ModelNode': {'hashCode', 'runtimeType', 'sourceCode'},
   'ModelObjectBuilder': {'hashCode', 'runtimeType'},
   'PackageGraph': {
     'allCanonicalModelElements',
diff --git a/lib/src/markdown_processor.dart b/lib/src/markdown_processor.dart
index 9853c34d26..9a32c7da98 100644
--- a/lib/src/markdown_processor.dart
+++ b/lib/src/markdown_processor.dart
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ bool _requireCallable(CommentReferable? referable) =>
 
 MatchingLinkResult _getMatchingLinkElement(
     String referenceText, Warnable element) {
-  var commentReference = ModelCommentReference.synthetic(referenceText);
+  var commentReference = ModelCommentReference(referenceText);
 
   // A filter to be used by [CommentReferable.referenceBy].
   bool Function(CommentReferable?) filter;
diff --git a/lib/src/model/model_node.dart b/lib/src/model/model_node.dart
index dcc292199f..ea73ad08b8 100644
--- a/lib/src/model/model_node.dart
+++ b/lib/src/model/model_node.dart
@@ -7,24 +7,21 @@ import 'dart:convert';
 import 'package:analyzer/dart/ast/ast.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/dart/element/element.dart';
 import 'package:analyzer/file_system/file_system.dart';
-import 'package:dartdoc/src/comment_references/model_comment_reference.dart';
 import 'package:dartdoc/src/model_utils.dart' as model_utils;
 import 'package:meta/meta.dart';
 
 /// Stripped down information derived from [AstNode] containing only information
-/// needed for Dartdoc.  Drops link to the [AstNode] after construction.
+/// needed to resurrect the source code of [element].
 class ModelNode {
-  final List<ModelCommentReference> commentRefs;
-  final Element element;
-  final ResourceProvider resourceProvider;
+  final Element _element;
+  final ResourceProvider _resourceProvider;
   final int _sourceEnd;
   final int _sourceOffset;
 
   factory ModelNode(
       AstNode? sourceNode, Element element, ResourceProvider resourceProvider) {
-    var commentRefs = _commentRefsFor(sourceNode, resourceProvider);
     if (sourceNode == null) {
-      return ModelNode._(element, resourceProvider, commentRefs,
+      return ModelNode._(element, resourceProvider,
           sourceEnd: -1, sourceOffset: -1);
     } else {
       // Get a node higher up the syntax tree that includes the semicolon.
@@ -35,30 +32,16 @@ class ModelNode {
         assert(sourceNode is FieldDeclaration ||
             sourceNode is TopLevelVariableDeclaration);
       }
-      return ModelNode._(element, resourceProvider, commentRefs,
+      return ModelNode._(element, resourceProvider,
           sourceEnd: sourceNode.end, sourceOffset: sourceNode.offset);
     }
   }
 
-  ModelNode._(this.element, this.resourceProvider, this.commentRefs,
+  ModelNode._(this._element, this._resourceProvider,
       {required int sourceEnd, required int sourceOffset})
       : _sourceEnd = sourceEnd,
         _sourceOffset = sourceOffset;
 
-  static List<ModelCommentReference> _commentRefsFor(
-      AstNode? node, ResourceProvider resourceProvider) {
-    if (node is AnnotatedNode) {
-      var nodeDocumentationComment = node.documentationComment;
-      if (nodeDocumentationComment != null) {
-        return [
-          for (var m in nodeDocumentationComment.references)
-            ModelCommentReference(m, resourceProvider),
-        ];
-      }
-    }
-    return const [];
-  }
-
   bool get _isSynthetic => _sourceEnd < 0 || _sourceOffset < 0;
 
   /// The text of the source code of this node, stripped of the leading
@@ -66,7 +49,7 @@ class ModelNode {
   late final String sourceCode = _isSynthetic
       ? ''
       : model_utils
-          .getFileContentsFor(element, resourceProvider)
+          .getFileContentsFor(_element, _resourceProvider)
           .substringFromLineStart(_sourceOffset, _sourceEnd)
           .stripIndent
           .stripDocComments