Teen Girl Who Murdered 2 By Driving 100-MPH Into Wall Posted Tributes to Slain Boyfriend: ‘Please Wait for Me
The Ohio teenager’s increasingly toxic relationship with her boyfriend, who was killed in the wreck, has been revealed — including a previous threat while he was in the passenger seat, “I will crash this car right now” before then beating him
Mackenzie Shirilla, who was found guilty on multiple counts of murder last week, had posted a flood of tributes to her slain boyfriend online after the fatal crash.
After her 20-year-old boyfriend Dominic Russo’s death, Shirilla shared photos of the two of them to his online obituary.
“I miss you nug. I still feel like your just going to walk in the door any second. I miss your laugh your perfect smile,” she posted in August last year alongside a photo of them at Universal Studios.
“God u are the last person to deserve this you had such a perfect life ahead of you … I wish I told you all this more. Please wait for me,” another post read.
Throughout that month she shared a number of photos of the couple, along with prom pictures of the two.
But the picture prosecutors painted during the four-day trial was anything but idyllic, proving convincingly to the court that the relationship Shirilla cultivated with Russo was increasingly toxic. The result of this dynamic led to the deaths of two — Russo’s friend Davion Flanagan, 19, was also killed as a passenger in the vehicle driven by Shirilla.
Shirilla and Russo had frequent breakups throughout their three to four year relationship, with family and friends claiming she exhibited “negative behavior” towards him — she is said to have lived at her boyfriend’s home during the majority of that time.
Two key incidents were identified by prosecutors.
Two weeks before the fatal crash, Shirilla is said have been driving on Interstate 71 with Russo as her passenger.
The court filing states that the couple were in the middle of a disagreement when Russo phoned his mother asking for someone to pick him up. Eventually a friend agreed to give Russo a ride, and was on the phone with him when he heard Shirilla say: “I will crash this car right now.”
When the friend arrived to give Russo a ride, he said Shirilla was parked on the side of the road and saw her “striking Dominic with both of her hands. Dominic then exited the vehicle and left.”
Another conflict near the time of the fatal crash was recorded by Russo.
In footage on Russo’s cellphone, Shirilla can reportedly be heard “repeatedly degrading Dominic, threatening him, and damaging his property.”
According to the court filing, Russo did not want her in his home and was heard repeatedly attempting to calm Shirilla down.
I miss you nug. I still feel like your just going to walk in the door any second. I miss your laugh your perfect smile.
She is then heard banging on the door and calling him “degrading and highly inappropriate names.”
It was then she apparently threatened to key his car, with her reportedly saying, “You’re gonna come open this door right now or there’s gonna be a serious f—ing problem.”
Russo is said to have then ended his recording and called his mother for assistance.
Shirilla’s attorneys argued that the conflict with the couple was not one-sided and they mutually fought with one another.
Shirilla, who was 17 at the time of the fatal accident, faces life in prison after a judge last week found her guilty on multiple counts of murder in the July 2022 deaths of Russo and Flanagan.
The conviction, which was announced on Monday at the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, comes with an automatic life sentence without chance of parole for 15 years. Shirilla is currently 19 years old.
God u are the last person to deserve this you had such a perfect life ahead of you … I wish I told you all this more. Please wait for me.
“She had a mission, and she executed it with precision,” Judge Nancy Margaret Russo (no relation to Dominic Russo) said last week. “The decision was death.”
Shirilla was overcome with emotion, sobbing as the judge announced the verdict. She was swiftly handcuffed by deputies while the verdict was still being read. Shirilla’s supporters were also visibly emotional during the reading.
Prosecutor Michael O’Malley told press that it was video obtained from a nearby business showing the seconds before the crash that informed their decision to prosecute Shirilla as an adult for murder.
“When you drive for four or five seconds with the pedal all the way down until you hit 100 mph into a building, we felt the charge was appropriate,” O’Malley said.
The crash, which happened in the early morning hours of July 31 2022, was not discovered until 45 minutes later when a passerby spotted the scene and called authorities.
Police found Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan dead. Shirilla meanwhile was discovered trapped with one of her Prada slippers stuck to the accelerator.
Of the video footage showing the moments before the fatal crash, Judge Russo said of Shirilla, “She morphs from responsible driver to literal hell on wheels.”
While at the time law enforcement found THC in her blood they chose to charge her with murder and not with driving under the influence. They also cited that her cellphone showed she had driven near what would become the scene of the fatal crash a few days prior.
Doctors who treated her after the accident said Shirilla shared feelings of “grief, guilt and shame.” Prosecutors said that meant the teen had “consciousness of guilt.”
Shirilla’s attorney argued that it was to be expected that drivers in fatal accidents felt guilt but that did not make them murderers. The defense also argued that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence Shirilla had intentionally crashed and that it was not simply a case of her losing control while driving recklessly.
