Published 16:27 27 May 2026 GMT
Messages sent by the young woman at the center of the new Netflix crime documentary, The Crash, to the mother of her boyfriend, whom she has been convicted of killing, have been revealed.
Mackenzie Shirilla, 21, is currently serving two sentences of 15 years to life imprisonment after she was convicted of killing two young men intentionally in a car crash.
In July 2022, she drove her Toyota Camry into the Plidco Building in Ohio at upwards of 100 mph, as, according to the court, part of a premeditated murder plan prompted by a highly toxic, volatile relationship with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend of four years, Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend Davion Flanagan, 19, were declared dead at the scene.
At the time of the crash, it was treated as an accident, but prosecutors argued that it was a failed murder-suicide attempt triggered by a toxic, on-and-off relationship between Shirilla and Russo.
Allegedly, after surviving the crash, Shirilla told police and other officials that she had no memory of what had happened.
Shirilla was arrested four months later and convicted of murder, aggravated vehicular homicide, and several other offenses in August 2023.
According to a 2024 Ohio Court of Appeals opinion upholding Shirilla's conviction obtained by PEOPLE, Shirilla texted Russo’s mother, Christine Russo, at some point in the months following the fatal crash. In the messages, Shirilla claimed that she still had no memory of the fateful night and was considering undergoing hypnosis to recover her memories.
She wrote: “I remember turning onto the street, and then my vision fades to black.
“It really kills me not to be able to remember anything. I promise you I would tell you. I’ve been asking my therapist why I don’t remember, and she said it’s because of trauma. I’m gonna try to get myself hypnotized and make myself remember.”
Christine Russo allegedly told investigators that her son’s relationship had been strained in the six months prior to the crash. Recalling frequent arguments between the young couple, she said that Shirilla had become “possessive” of Dominic.
Also, in the weeks running up to the crash, a friend of the Russo family testified that he witnessed Shirilla threaten to crash her car with Dominic.
However, in the recent Netflix documentary, Shirilla’s parents, Natalie and Steve, disputed this claim and said that texts from Shirilla to Christine proved Dominic was the one who made the alleged threat.
