Mackenzie Shirilla Texts Reveal July 2 Breakup Before Crash Strongsville Ohio Records
strongsville ohio records show Dominic Russo texted Mackenzie Shirilla on July 2, 2022, saying they should break up less than a month before he died in a 100 mph crash into a brick wall. Prosecutors later concluded Shirilla’s driving was an intentional act, and the crash killed Russo and Davion Flanagan.
Russo’s messages described a relationship defined by repeated conflict. He wrote, “Kenzie u know i love u but i dont think we should be together at this point there isnt very much time on earth,” and added, “id like to think we could stop fighting but its a breakup fight everyweek neither of us deserve that.”
Russo’s July 2 texts
Russo told Shirilla, “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,” and then wrote, “we should just breakup so we can both fimd happiness somewhere else.” Those lines put a date on the breakup attempt and show he tied the split to threats, not just routine conflict.
The messages arrived less than a month before the July 31 crash in Strongsville, Ohio. That timing matters because the relationship was already part of the record before the fatal drive that ended with two deaths.
Earlier messages in 2020
Texts from January 2020 show the dispute was not new. Shirilla allegedly told Russo she was “gonna kill someone” after he did not give her a ride, and she wrote, “I’m mad as f--k rn.” She also texted, “I F--KING HATE MYSELF IM UGLY AND YOU J[UST] ADD ON TO IT AND MAKE ME FEEL EVEN UGLYER,” and, “YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE IM WORTHLESS I DO SO MUCH S--T FOR YOU.”
In those same January 2020 messages, Shirilla said she was at Russo’s house “breaking down” on his floor because she felt she was trying to please him, but “it’s never enough.” She also wrote, “I j[ust] want to bang my head on the wall till I'm dead,” and added that she thought Russo should “treat the girl who would die for you a little better.”
August 2021 and March 2022
The record also includes later accusations from both sides. On Aug. 13, 2021, Russo alleged Shirilla threatened to stab him in the eye after a joke he made, and Shirilla replied, “Maybe if u just had my back,” she allegedly said, “u wouldn't be threatened.”
On March 11, 2022, Russo accused Shirilla of getting physically violent. He alleged that she said, “[You] didnt let me out the car,” and then hit him, pulled the s--t out of his hair, tried to throw a rock at him, threatened to call the cops on him and keyed his car.
Those exchanges show a relationship that had already produced repeated threats and accusations before the crash. Shirilla is now the subject of Netflix’s The Crash, but the text record itself is what places the July 2 breakup message in a longer pattern that ended with Russo’s death and Flanagan’s death on July 31, 2022.
