Mackenzie Shirilla’s text messages to her boyfriend Dominic Russo in the months before their fatal car crash have resurfaced after ‘The Crash’ began streaming on Netflix. The messages were part of the police investigation and have a connection to the night of the crash.
In 2022, Shirilla drove her Toyota Camry into a brick wall at about 100 mph. The crash resulted in the death of her boyfriend Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan.
Texts resurface
Court documents described the texts as those that revealed anger, threats, and emotional outbursts between Shirilla and Russo. Crime reporter Raja Malkani, who has written about the messages, reportedlysaid police treated them as evidence of an increasingly toxic relationship.
One of the highlighted texts reportedly read, “I’m gonna kill someone, I just want to bang my head on the wall till I’m dead.” The line was used by that attorneys later, to support the idea that violence had become part of Shirilla’s mindset.
In the same exchange, Shirilla complained about how Russo spoke to her during arguments, according to court filings. Prosecutors argued that the pair had been fighting often in the weeks before the crash, and that Russo had wanted to end the relationship.
The proceedings
Shirilla’s aunt, speaking at the trial, painted a different picture, telling judges the couple seemed “very much in love” and openly talked about future plans before the tragedy. That testimony also underlined the conflicting views of the relationship.
Since Netflix’s documentary The Crash released in May 2026, the text message angle gained traction again. On Reddit’s r/TrueCrimeDiscussion, one user wrote, “Those texts make it way harder to believe this was purely an accident.” Another viewer on X posted, “If she really sent ‘I’m going to kill someone’ before the crash, that’s not something a docu can just skip past,” he claimed about documentray’s omission of the comment.
For now, the messages remain a key part of the public record, not just a social‑media talking point. Viewers have also been concerned about how the omission of these details will form public’s point of view regarding the case.
