Mackenzie Shirilla Claimed Boyfriend Tried to Kill Her Weeks Before Crash

Mackenzie Shirilla reportedly claimed that her late boyfriend, Dominic Russo, tried to kill her just weeks before she drove her car into a brick wall and killed both him and their friend, Davion Flanagan.

In new text messages released by law enforcement, Shirilla, 21, accused Russo, 20, of putting her life in danger after they got into an argument over her erratic driving.

"Do you think I would have my car started with you in it knowing that you just tried to kill me," she allegedly said in the exchange, according to TMZ.

Shirilla then demanded that Russo list the reasons why he loves her, and she also sent him graphic texts in which she threatened to hurt herself and others.

"I'm gonna kill someone," "I j (sic) want to bang my head on the wall till I'm dead," she allegedly wrote to Russo. "I f***ing hate myself… Now I'm at your f***ing house breaking down on your floor."

Shirilla is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison after she was found guilty in 2023 of causing a car crash that killed Russo and Flanagan, 19, in July 2022, in Strongsville, Ohio. At the time, she was driving 100 mph before her vehicle crashed into a brick wall.

A new interest in the case began when Shirilla's story was featured in Netflix's May documentary, The Crash. Throughout the project, she expressed remorse for the crime and insisted she never meant to kill Russo and Flanagan.

Several of Shirilla's conversations in prison have since been released to the public, including one phone call with her mother, Natalie Shirilla, in which she dismissed Strongsville residents and complained about the suburb.

"Somebody was online saying how there was no parental supervision with you and stuff," Natalie told her daughter in the call, which was published by TMZ on June 2. "This was the party house, and I just let people have all kinds of parties here and everything. And finally, the neighbor across the street, she was like, ‘You guys, you don't know what you're talking about. That's a wonderful family. They're very nice. I live right across the street. There were never parties over there. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Don't believe everything you hear.'"

"Everyone's making s*** up. Then they were saying that you just got done breaking into a church and you spray-painted and broke everything … like, what?" Natalie continued. "The rumor mill is strong."

"Damn, Strongsville people are so sad and depressing. Like, they really have nothing credible," Mackenzie responded, while Natalie added, "This is the saddest f***ing town ever."

In another prison phone call shared by TMZ, Mackenzie expressed frustration over her life behind bars. At one point on the call, Mackenzie complained about how slow time was moving.

"Like it's only 3:30, how is it only 3:30?" she asked. "For real I did not even know it was 3:30 I thought it was like 5. It's 3:30."

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 6:39 PM.