A teenage driver who earned the moniker ‘Hell on Wheels’ after she slammed into a wall at 100mph, killing her boyfriend and their friend, had received a chilling breakup text message just a few weeks before.
Mackenzie Shirilla, who is currently behind bars, is facing a lifetime in prison for murdering her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, in the crash.
Prosecutors had argued she intentionally accelerated her car into a building in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, as they pointed to video evidence they said showed Shirilla was acting deliberately rather than losing control of the vehicle as she had claimed.
It has since been revealed that just weeks before the crash in 2022, Russo had sent Shirilla a breakup message in which he lamented that life is too short.
‘Kenzie u know i love u but i dont think we should be together at this point, there isnt very much time on earth,’ he wrote in the text message obtained by TMZ.
He then went on to mention that they were having ‘breakup fights’ every week, arguing, ‘neither of us deserves that’ as he told his girlfriend he thought they needed time apart.
‘i dont want u to think im abandoning you, i wish it could work but i dont think its going to at this point especially with the threats,’ Russo continued.
‘we should just breakup so we can both fimd [sic] happiness somewhere else.’
Mackenzie Shirilla is now facing a lifetime behind bars for murdering her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, in a horrific crash in 2022
It has since been revealed that Russo had sent her a breakup text message just weeks before the collision
When authorities arrived on the scene on July 31, 2022, they found Shirilla’s Toyota Camry smashed in half
Shirilla has long maintained that she suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel in the early morning hours of July 31, 2022, when she crashed her Toyota Camry into the Plidco Building.
When first responders arrived at the scene, they found the car split in half, with Shirilla wedged between the driver’s seat and the door, while her two passengers were determined to be dead on arrival.
As officers later worked to investigate what caused the deadly crash, they obtained surveillance footage showing her vehicle hurtling along a quiet road.
The car could then be seen smashing through a business sign and slamming into the side of the building.
‘This was not reckless driving – this was murder,’ a judge concluded when delivering her verdict in 2023. ‘She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The decision was death.’
The judge described Shirilla’s actions as ‘controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful,’ ruling that she intended to kill the young men.
She was convicted on multiple counts, including aggravated vehicular homicide and felonious assault, and sentenced to at least 15 years behind bars before she could face parole.
The case drew national attention, fueled in part by disturbing details about Shirilla’s behavior before the crash. It has come back into the spotlight following the release of the documentary The Crash, streaming on Netflix.
A judge concluded Shirilla ‘had a mission, and she executed it with precision’ when she slammed her car into the Plidco building at 100mph
Davion Flanagan, 19, Shirilla and Russo’s friend, was also killed in the crash
When she later found out that her case was back in the news, Shirilla was caught laughing in a jailhouse phone call with her mother.
The mother and daughter giggled as they said ‘the Daily Mail published’ her claims of innocence in our exclusive reporting earlier this year that saw former inmates allege Shirilla has become a prolific lesbian behind bars, and has been disciplined a number of times for flouting prison rules.
In their call, the pair laughed together as Mackenzie speculated that her case could be picked up by Kim Kardashian, who has attempted to publicize several inmates’ claims of innocence in recent years.
‘Maybe Kim Kardashian will reach out herself,’ Mackenzie said.
Natalie added: ‘That’s what I’m saying, I’m hoping. We’re getting there. I was gonna do this anyway, so this is great…. craziness, baby girl.’
That jailhouse call has apparently irked Russo’s family as they relive the horror they faced when Dominic was found dead.
‘The calls that have come out, just listening to them and the laughter between her and her mother is sickening,’ his sister, Christine, told WJW.
‘Her mom tells her to write her book; she talks about being a model after she gets out.’
Shirilla was convicted on multiple counts, including aggravated vehicular homicide and felonious assault, and sentenced to at least 15 years behind bars before she could face parole
In an effort to ensure Shirilla can never profit from her brother’s death, Christine has launched a petition to change the law in Ohio.
It calls for updates to the Son of Sam law, which was created in the 1970s following public outrage over convicted serial killer David Berkowitz benefiting from his crimes.
The law in Ohio primarily deals with book and movie rights, but Christine now wants to update it for the digital age.
‘No victim’s family should have to watch the person who killed their loved one turn that crime into any attention, followers, donations, sponsorships, merchandise, paid interviews, documentaries, social media income or other personal benefits,’ she argued.
She also wrote in the Change.org petition that she is fighting for the measure ‘because violent crime should not become a pathway to fame, money, influence or opportunity’ and ‘public attention should never become a reward for homicide’ nor should notoriety ‘become a business model.
‘Victims’ families deserve protection from being retraumatized while offenders, or those acting on their behalf, benefit from the public attention created by violent crime,’ Christine writes.
‘Modern platforms have changed how people become famous and how they make money,’ she continues. ‘Our laws must catch up.’
The petition had more than 60,000 signatures as of Wednesday.
But after Shirilla’s appeal for a new trial was denied in March, the now-21-year-old will not face the possibility of parole until 2037.
Shirilla has long maintained that she suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel when she slammed into the building and killed Russo and Flanagan
Russo’s family is now trying to keep his memory alive as his sister works to ensure Shirilla can never profit from her brother’s murder. Above, Russo and Shirilla with her family
She will remain in the Ohio Reformatory for Women near Columbus, where she has quickly gained a reputation as a prolific lesbian and ‘Mean Girl’ behind bars, a former inmate previously revealed.
The former inmate, who gave her name as Kat, told the Daily Mail earlier this year that Shirilla was enjoying such torrid romances with other women that she would regularly walk around with ‘hickeys on her neck.’
‘She showed absolutely no remorse,’ she said. ‘Mackenzie acted like it was glorified high school… she walked around like she was famous.’
‘The girlfriend thing was well known,’ Kat continued. ‘And in prison it’s very common especially for people in her life sentence situation, and especially with the younger girls.’
Another former inmate, Shyann Topping, claimed to have been in a relationship with Shirilla in a series of TikTok videos.
Topping said she fell for her good looks and charm and hoped the pair would ‘be together’ on the outside.
The former inmate later said she was turned off by Shirilla’s personality and mean behavior towards other inmates. She has since moved on with her life.
Shirilla with two other inmates at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. She is said to have developed a taste for other ‘lifers’ like her
Meanwhile, Christine Russo has launched a podcast called The Big Sister Unhinged to set the record straight about her brother and to dispel misconceptions online.
At the same time, she is trying to raise awareness about domestic violence because of how Shirilla treated her brother, and on Wednesday, she started a nonprofit called Change the Game for Dom to help underprivileged kids get basketball supplies.
The goal, Russo said, is to help others remember her brother’s legacy and not just his murder.
‘Every day is a struggle,’ she told WJW. ‘But with all of this happening, I figured I’d try to make something positive out of this terrible tragedy.’
