Mackenzie Shirilla received break-up texts from boyfriend Dominic Russo weeks before killing him
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Crime
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Crime
Police have released a series of harrowing break-up texts that Dominic Russo sent to his girlfriend, Mackenzie Shirilla, just weeks before she killed him.
The news comes following the release of Netflix's latest true-crime documentary, The Crash, which recalls the evidence gathered by prosecutors who suspected the 100mph collision that killed Dominic hadn't been an accident.
Police were called to the scene on 31 July 2022 to find that Ohio high school graduate Mackenzie had driven her 2018 Toyota Camry into the wall of a building in the early hours of the morning after attending a party.
Dominic, 20, had been inside the vehicle alongside the couple's friend, Davion Flanagan, 19.
Advert
Both boys were pronounced dead on the scene, while Mackenzie survived, having been airlifted from the car and undergoing several surgeries.
Being interviewed by police in the days that followed, she alleged she'd blacked out ahead of the fatal collision, claiming this was a side effect of her Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) diagnosis.
Despite this, police were able to gather enough evidence that Mackenzie had purposefully crashed her car that night.
Appearing in court in November of that year, she was charged with 12 counts - four murder charges, four felonious assault charges, two aggravated vehicular homicide charges, one drug possession charge and one possession of criminal tools charge.
Sentencing her to two concurrent 15-to-life prison terms, with the possibility of parole in 15 years, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo ruled that Mackenzie's actions had been premeditated, branding her 'hell on wheels'.
Following the series' release, PEOPLE have obtained texts from the Strongsville Police Department that were sent from Dominic's phone to Mackenzie's in the weeks prior to the gory collision.
In one message sent on 2 July 2022, Dominic told her: "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. id like to think we could stop fighting but its a breakup fight everyweek."
He added: "Neither of us deserve that i dont wanna fight all the time. i dont want u to think im abandoning u i wish it could work but i dont think its going to at this point especially with the threats we should just breakup so we can both [find] happiness somewhere else."
In the days that followed, Dominic made a U-turn in his decision, telling Mackenzie in another text: "I want the best for both of us baby im sorry we were fighting i love u."
He also wrote shortly afterwards: "Look im sorry talk ltr."
The text messages supported claims made by several members of the couple's friendship group, who described their relationship as largely 'toxic'.
As the documentary highlights, it was also found that two weeks prior to Dominic's death, Mackenzie had threatened to crash her car while he was in the passenger seat during an argument.
His mother had been forced to intervene, at the time pleading with a friend to flag down the vehicle and return Dominic home.
Footage of an interview between Dominic's older brother, Angelo, and investigating officers was also included in the documentary, in which it was alleged that he'd attempted to break up with Mackenzie 'multiple times' prior to the incident.
Angelo claimed: "It kept not working out. They kept making back up. Dom would have to call Kenzie's parents, call her mom, and say, 'Hey, you need to come get Kenzie out of here, she's refusing to leave my house, she's being crazy'.
"Kenzie let us know she will never get rid of Dom - if she has to let go of Dom, she will not go on living herself."
Alongside the text messages, footage of the crash aided prosecutors in convicting Mackenzie for the double murders.
Investigators saw that Mackenzie appeared to drive the car directly towards the Plidco Building without attempting to slow down, and that the path the vehicle had travelled remained straight and controlled until the moment it hit the wall.
A forensic mechanical expert also confirmed that the car's pedal had been pushed down to 100 per cent capacity for several seconds leading up to the crash, averaging at 98.7mph until the moment of impact.
Then, there were a series of controversial TikToks uploaded by Mackenzie in the weeks after the crash. In one vlog, she filmed herself being rolled out of the hospital in a wheelchair; in another, she was seen attempting to contact Dominic with a Ouija board.
She also responded to Instagram requests from clothing brands and modelling agencies asking her to collaborate, telling them in one comment posted just days after the crash: "I would love to work with you guys, I've been emailing you guys a lot!! Such a great opportunity thank you."
In another video, she was seen dressing as a corpse that Halloween, and in another, she lip-synced the lyrics, 'I'm the girl you die for', from the Marina and the Diamonds song, 'Bubblegum B***h'.
Mackenzie also made an appearance in the documentary from Ohio Reformatory for Women, telling viewers: "I want to say my truth. I know myself, and I'm not a monster."
She also recalled the night of the crash, explaining: "It was like 5:00am and we'd decided to head back to Dom's house. I remember turning on the street, and then I'm waking up in the hospital the next day, and my whole life is shattered.
"The whole morning is nothing - it sounds crazy, but I'm not going to lie just because people want to hear a story. I have no recollection of that morning.
"I'm not saying I'm innocent. I was the driver of a tragedy, but I'm not a murderer."