Newly unveiled jail calls and text messages are casting new perspectives on Mackenzie Shirilla’s case, the Ohio woman infamously referred to as “hell on wheels.” Her murder conviction has returned to public attention, partly due to Netflix’s series “The Crash.”
Now 21 years old, Shirilla is serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life for the deaths of Dominic Russo, 20, and Davion Flanagan, 19. Prosecutors argued that she intentionally drove her Toyota Camry into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio, on July 31, 2022. The prosecution claimed Shirilla’s motive was to end her troubled relationship with Russo, while Flanagan was tragically caught in the incident.
These newly released records, obtained by the Strongsville Police Department and highlighted by Fox 8, emerge as Shirilla has sought to have her case reviewed by the Ohio Supreme Court for a possible appeal.
Mackenzie Shirilla’s fatal crash, which took place on July 31, 2022, resulted in the deaths of Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. (Strongsville Police Department)
Shirilla’s story has regained public focus following the release of Netflix’s latest series, “The Crash.”
Shirilla’s case is back in the limelight after Netflix’s new series, “The Crash.”
What has happened since ‘The Crash’?
Since the documentary was released on May 15, police have released text messages between Shirilla and her boyfriend, Russo, as well as jailhouse calls and bodycam footage from the day of the crash, according to Fox 8.
The texts, reviewed by the local outlet, reveal that Shirilla complained to Russo about blackouts years before the crash and again just weeks before it, including a July 2, 2022, message in which she described what she called her “worst black out.”
Shirilla’s attorneys have argued that medical evidence could support her claim that she blacked out before the July 31, 2022, crash that killed Russo and Flanagan.
Mackenzie Shirilla sits behind the wheel of her Toyota Camry alongside a photo of Davion Flanagan, one of two men she was convicted of murdering. (Instagram)
But other messages painted a darker picture of the couple’s relationship. Shirilla reportedly messaged, “THIS IS WHY I J WANNA F—ING KMS [kill myself]” and “I’m gonna kill someone.”
In another message, according to Fox 8, she told Russo to “treat the girl who would die for you a little better.”
In March 2022, Russo allegedly texted that Shirilla “hit me” and “tried to throw a rock at me.”
Along with the new text messages, her father, Steve Shirilla, has been placed on administrative leave from his job at a Catholic school for participating in the documentary, according to WOIO-TV.
According to the outlet, the school, Mary Queen of Peace School, sent a letter to families said that is investigating claims that a teacher at the school “has demonstrated poor judgment.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mary Queen of Peace School for comment.
Mackenzie Shirilla looks on during her sentencing in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. She was found guilty of four counts of murder and other charges related to the deaths of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend, Davion Flanagan, in July 2022.
The messages have resurfaced as Shirilla’s lawyers asked the Ohio Supreme Court to review whether her postconviction claims should be heard after a lower court ruled her petition was filed one day too late.
In a filing with the Ohio Supreme Court reviewed by Fox News Digital, Shirilla’s attorneys argue her trial lawyers failed to adequately investigate evidence that she suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. The syndrome they say could have caused her to lose consciousness before the crash.
The defense says the condition was only “cursorily referenced” at trial, despite Shirilla and her family allegedly putting her attorneys on notice about it. Her lawyers now argue trial counsel should have dug deeper and sought expert testimony to explain whether POTS could account for Shirilla’s failure to brake before impact.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley “believes without question that Mackenzie Shirilla is guilty of murder,” his office said in a May 27 statement.
“We are confident that any court that reviews this case will come to the same conclusion.”
Before delivering her verdict in 2023, Cuyahoga County Judge Nancy Margaret Russo said Shirilla was on a “mission.”
“This was not reckless driving. This was murder,” the judge said at the time as Shirilla wept in court. “She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was death.”
Our News Digital has reached out to Shiirilla’s attorneys for comment.
