Mackenzie Shirilla appeared to accuse her boyfriend of four years, Dominic Russo, of attempting to kill her just weeks before the fatal crash which tragically claimed his life.
In July 2022, Shirilla — who was 17 at the time — drove a car at roughly 100mph into a wall in Strongsville, Ohio. Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, were killed in the impact.
Shirilla has consistently denied intending to harm anyone, saying she blacked out at the moment of the crash. Despite that, she was convicted of 12 felony offences, including murder, felonious assault and aggravated vehicular homicide.
A judge later handed Shirilla two concurrent 15-year sentences. She will not be eligible for parole until 2037 at the earliest.
Text messages said to be from Shirilla suggest that around two weeks before the crash she accused Russo of trying to kill her by causing a wreck.
Obtained by PEOPLE from the Strongsville Police Department, she allegedly said on July 17 2022: “The fact that my boyfriend of four years just tried to end my life by steering me off of the highway that’s how I know you’re not in love and you never were somebody who loves me would never do this to me.”
Russo replied that he “rly didnt”, but Shirilla followed up with: “I’m already nervous driving in the rain as it is and the fact that you would even try to steer me off of the road and make my car spin out.”
She then said she would “file a police report”, prompting Russo to respond: “If u do im telling your mom your a prostitute … cuz u are.”
Additional messages from July 21 2022 — about 10 days before the crash — show Shirilla pleading to be allowed into Russo’s home.
He refused, saying she had “threatened to break a bunch if s**t”. Shirilla answered: “I’m only going to break s**t if you don’t let me in.”
The case has drawn renewed public attention following the release of Netflix’s The Crash, which includes interviews with relatives of those involved.
Kat Crowder, a former Ohio prison inmate who says she was once Shirilla’s cell mate, has also spoken publicly about her time around the convicted killer.
In a TikTok video, Crowder claimed: “When I was in prison with her, it was at the beginning of her sentence, and the Mackenzie that came on to Netflix was not the same Mackenzie that I witnessed in prison.
“She thrived for fame, even when I was in prison with her, she thought she was going to be the representative of the prison.”
Crowder went on to say: “Let me tell you something, Mackenzie Shirilla did not walk around that prison yard with an ounce of remorse.
“Mackenzie did not walk around that prison yard thinking about those lost loved ones that she claimed to think about every single day. [She] walked around the prison thinking, how is she going to get in with the cool kids?”
According to the timeline described in the documentary, Shirilla and Russo had argued in the car, with a friend later alleging they overheard her tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”
Not long after, Shirilla drove Russo and Flanagan from Russo’s home towards a friend’s house. At about 5.30am, the vehicle slammed into a Plidco Building in Strongsville at around 100mph without braking. Police reached the scene about 45 minutes later; Russo and Flanagan were pronounced dead, while Shirilla was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center.
Roughly 200 people attended a vigil for Russo and Flanagan as Shirilla remained in critical condition. When a detective visited her at the hospital, she was reported to be speaking a “unique language” similar to pig Latin.
Months later, Shirilla attended a Halloween party in a costume said to resemble a corpse — something Davion’s father described as deeply offensive. He says in Netflix’s The Crash: “Dressing up as corpses three months after she killed two people, it just sickened us to the very core.”
Shirilla was later arrested and faced 18 charges, including two counts of aggravated murder. Authorities also accused her of breaking into the Columbia Church of God in Columbia Station a few days before the crash, alongside separate allegations involving drug trafficking and possession.
At trial, her lawyers argued she may have lost consciousness due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). However, the claim was not supported by medical records or expert testimony confirming the diagnosis.
Shirilla was found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo labelled her “hell on wheels”, and the court concluded the crash was intentional and premeditated.
She received two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life. Her legal team later failed in an appeal and a relief petition. She remains incarcerated at Ohio Reformatory for Women.
Shirilla’s parents continue to maintain she is innocent. Her father Steve told WKYC: “Show me one piece of evidence – one – that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me, then she’s right where she belongs and she’s guilty of it. But there isn’t any.” Her mother Natalie has also said there are texts in which Shirilla claims Russo was “trying to end her life”.
In Netflix’s The Crash, Shirilla again insists she is “not a murderer” and says she cannot remember the moments surrounding the collision, continuing to attribute it to POTS.
Following the documentary’s release, Steve Shirilla was put on administrative leave from his role as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland amid claims he had “demonstrated poor judgement”. Some viewers criticised his responses regarding Shirilla’s marijuana use and his dismissal of allegations that she told a classmate to end their life.
This is when Shirilla will be eligible for parole.