Four weeks before the July 2022 crash that would claim his life, Dominic Russo reached out to Mackenzie Shirilla with a message that read like a farewell.“Kenzie you know I love you but I don’t think we should be together at this point, there isn’t very much time on earth,”he texted on July 2, according to newly revealed messages obtained by TMZ. The breakup text, sent just 29 days before the fatal accident, painted a picture of a relationship fracturing under constant tension—a young man trying to find the words to walk away from someone he cared about but couldn’t live with.
Russo’s message wasn’t harsh; it was almost prescient in its vulnerability. He acknowledged the cycle they were stuck in:“I’d like to think we could stop fighting but it’s a breakup fight every week neither of us deserve.”He knew the pattern. Fighting daily, making up, repeating. He knew neither of them deserved it. What stands out most isn’t anger—it’s exhaustion. A 20-year-old reaching for maturity, trying to explain that sometimes love isn’t enough when two people can’t coexist peacefully.“If we can’t separate for a little then we are only going to fight more,”he wrote. He was asking for space. Asking for a chance at something healthier, for both of them.
Shirilla, now 21 and serving two concurrent life sentences, has maintained that she blacked out behind the wheel due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition that affects heart rate and blood pressure when standing. But prosecutors painted a different picture at trial in 2023: a 100 mph collision into a brick wall with no braking, no swerve, no attempt to avoid impact. They called it a botched murder-suicide attempt. Shirilla was convicted on 12 felony charges, including four counts of murder. Her friend Davion Flanagan also died in the crash, along with Russo.
What makes Russo’s text so haunting isn’t just what he said—it’s what he couldn’t have known. He was negotiating the end of a relationship, trying to be kind about it, hoping they could both“find happiness somewhere else.”He had no way of knowing that within a month, he’d be gone. Neither did anyone else. These are the moments that history latches onto after tragedy: the casual text, the overheard conversation, the plans that never happen. They become evidence of a future that never arrives. Netflix’s The Crash documentary, released May 15, brought renewed attention to the case, with Shirilla filmed from behind bars expressing remorse for the deaths while maintaining her account of what happened that early morning.
The case remains one of those stories that refuses simple answers. A relationship in crisis. Questions about what was intentional and what wasn’t. A young man’s attempt to exit gracefully, met with an end he never saw coming. Russo’s text stands as a final snapshot of someone trying to do the right thing in a complicated situation—words that matter all the more now that he’s not here to explain them. Shirilla is eligible for parole in 2037.
About the Author
Ava Hart
Ava Hart is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
