EXCLUSIVE: Chilling Twist in Mackenzie Shirilla Horror — 'Hell On Wheels' Killer Accused Boyfriend of Trying to 'End Her Life' Days Before She 'Drove Him Into a Brick Wall'
Mackenzie Shirilla and Dominic Russo accused each other of trying to end their lives.
May 28 2026, Published 12:49 p.m. ET
Just two weeks before intentionally crashing her car into a brick wall at over 100 mph, killing her boyfriend and another passenger, Mackenzie Shirilla eerily foreshadowed her plan in a heated text, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The then-teenager's case has been reignited by a new Netflix documentary.
'End of Life' Threats
Mackenzie Shirilla and Dominic Russo had been fighting for months.
Shirilla was 17 when she murdered her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their pal Davion Flanagan, 19, in the horrific crash that took place on July 31, 2022. But she and Russo had been fighting for months beforehand, and Russo had recently sent her a devastating breakup text.
The bickering apparently continued throughout the month, culminating in a text exchange in which both lovers accused the other of "trying to end" their life.
"Now I have to look forward to you ending my life any time we argue like how am I not supposed to be afraid," Shirilla texted Russo on July 17.
It's not clear exactly what set off this particular argument, but Russo fired back, "Kenzie (you) f--king tripping is all ima say", before adding, "(You) threaten to end my life all the time."
From Threat to Reality
Mackenzie Shirilla and Dominic Russo sent each other accusatory text messages.
Shirilla texted back a creepy hint of what was to come, only in this case, she accused Russo of planning to do the damage.
"All I care about is you trying to end my life and put it in your hand on the steering wheel and trying to end it," Shirilla shrieked, following that up with, "Nobody does that to somebody they love."
But that is exactly what Shirilla was later convicted of, as the now 21-year-old is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life after being convicted in August 2023 of murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges.
Bitter Breakup Texts
Mackenzie Shirilla mentioned death by vehicle in one text message.
Shirilla has long maintained that she suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel of her Toyota Camry and drove it right into the building. However, prosecutors maintained the accident was a botched murder-suicide attempt, pointing to her fractured relationship with Russo, particularly the breakup text.
"Kenzie u know I love u but I don't think we should be together at this point, there isn't very much time on earth," Russo wrote, mentioning that the couple was having "breakup fights" every week, and that "neither of us deserves that."
He then dropped the hammer, suggesting the two should "separate for a little while," in order to stop the constant fighting.
"I dont want u to think im abandoning you," he continued. "I wish it could work but I don't think it's going to at this point especially with the threats ... we should just breakup so we can both fimd [sic] happiness somewhere else."
The Car Crash Was Gruesome
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Mackenzie Shirilla's car was torn in half by the force of the crash.
That text message was sent on July 2, 2022. In the early morning hours of July 31, Shirilla sped her car into a building in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, killing her passengers.
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. Russo and Flanagan were dead on arrival.
Shirilla insisted that she lost control of the car before the crash, but surveillance video from a nearby camera showed her speeding down the road before smashing through a business sign and slamming into the side of the building.
"This was not reckless driving, this was murder," a judge said when delivering her verdict in 2023. "She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The decision was death."
