Mackenzie Shirilla's chilling texts to boyfriend Dominic Russo before fatal crash: 'I'm gonna kill someone'

Newly revealed texts are bringing fresh attention to Mackenzie Shirilla’s deadly Ohio crash case.

Years before Mackenzie Shirilla was convicted of murdering her boyfriend, the two had a deeply troubled relationship and a series of disturbing text messages are now offering a rare look inside it.

What the texts reveal?

The text messages, obtained by TMZ, were part of the police investigation into the fatal car crash that killed Dominic Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan. In the messages, Mackenzie comes across as highly emotional and unstable. She told Dominic, "I'm gonna kill someone," "I j want to bang my head on the wall till I'm dead," and "THIS IS WHY I J WANNA F***ING KMS," according to TMZ.

Other messages show Mackenzie discussing not being pregnant, getting tested for STDs, dealing with health issues from smoking, feeling depressed, disliking her home and complaining about how Dominic treated her.

In an unusual detail, there is also a message from Dominic himself telling Mackenzie that he had crashed his mom's car. Police, prosecutors and Mackenzie's defense team all went through the texts as her case moved through the legal system.

What happened and where is she now?

On July 31, 2022, a then 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla crashed her car into a brick wall at nearly 100 mph in Strongsvill in Ohio, killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo who was 20 and his friend Davion Flanagan who was 19. Investigators found the accelerator was fully pressed with no braking in the final seconds and experts ruled out any car malfunction, according to court documents cited by People. A family friend also testified that he had heard Shirilla say "I'm going to wreck this car right now" weeks before the crash.

In August 2023, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo found her guilty on all 12 charges. "She had a mission and she executed it with precision," the judge said, per 3News. "The decision was death." Shirilla was sentenced to two concurrent 15-year-to-life terms and will not be eligible for parole until 2037.

All appeals have been denied, per WKYC. She is currently incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, Ohio.

What a former inmate says she really saw

Mary Katherine Crowder who is 27 and spent more than six months with Shirilla at the same prison in 2024, told the New York Post that the Netflix documentary looked nothing like the person she knew behind bars. “When she walked out in the documentary, my jaw literally dropped, because her demeanor and the way that she looked was nothing like the person I was in there with,” Crowder told The Post.

Crowder claimed the now 21-year-old acted like a celebrity inside prison, she kept her hair and makeup done daily and socializing with a tight group of young inmates. "Everyone knew why she was there, and she walked around like she was this famous person within prison," Crowder said. “She definitely carried herself like she was the Regina George of prison… she was very much like an ‘It girl.’”