New text messages released by law enforcement are drawing fresh attention to the case of Mackenzie Shirilla after the release of Netflix documentary The Crash. The messages showed Shirilla accusing her boyfriend, Dominic Russo of trying to kill her just weeks before the deadly crash in Strongsville, Ohio.
What do the newly released text messages reveal?
According to TMZ, Convicted killer Mackenzie Shirilla, 21, accused her own boyfriend of trying to kill her, just weeks before she deliberately crashed her car into a brick wall at nearly 100 mph, killing him and his friend.
In the messages, Shirilla accused her boyfriend Dominic Russo who was 20, of putting her life in danger following a heated argument about her reckless driving. “Do you think I would have my car started with you in it knowing that you just tried to kill me,” she wrote to him.
She also sent graphic texts threatening to harm herself and others. “I’m gonna kill someone,” “I j want to bang my head on the wall till I’m dead,” “I f**king hate myself… Now I’m at your f**king house breaking down on your floor,” she wrote to Russo.
Meanwhile, additional messages obtained by TMZ show Russo trying to end the relationship gently in the weeks before his death.
“Kenzie u know i love u but i don’t think we should be together at this point there isnt very much time on earth yaknow,” he wrote. “I dont want u to think im abandoning u i wish it could work but i don’t think its going to at this point especially with the threats,” he added, saying they should both find happiness elsewhere.
Prosecutors argued that Shirilla wanted to murder Russo after their troubled relationship fell apart and that the act was fully premeditated.
What Happened on July 31, 2022?
On July 31, 2022, a then 19-year-old Shirilla crashed her Toyota Camry into a brick warehouse in Strongsville, Ohio at nearly 100 mph and killed Russo, who was in the passenger seat and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, who was sitting in the back. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Shirilla was found unconscious and was hospitalised with multiple injuries, according to the New York Post.
Investigators found that the accelerator was fully pressed with no braking in the final seconds before the crash and experts ruled out any car malfunction, according to court documents cited by People. A family friend also testified that he had heard Shirilla say “I’m going to wreck this car right now” weeks before the crash.
After the wreck, Shirilla texted Russo’s mother claiming she had blacked out and remembered nothing. She also posted loving messages on Russo’s online obituary and asked Russo’s brother to place photos of the two of them in Dominic’s casket “so he can be with me forever,” court documents revealed.
What happened to Mackenzie Shirilla after she was found guilty?
In August 2023, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo found Shirilla guilty on all 12 charges and sentenced her to two concurrent 15-year-to-life terms. The judge called her “literal hell on wheels” at the time of conviction. Shirilla will not be eligible for parole until 2037. All her appeals have been denied, as per WKYC. She is currently incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, Ohio.
