Mackenzie Shirilla's former prison girlfriend reveals she received threatening texts after their break-up
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, True crime, Crime
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Strongsville Police Department
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, True crime, Crime
Mackenzie Shirilla's former prison girlfriend claims she received threatening messages quoting her mother's home address after she broke up with the convicted murderer and spoke out about their romance on TikTok.
Shirilla is currently serving two consecutive sentences of 15 years to life for the deaths of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend Davion Flanagan in July 2022.
Shirilla, who was 17 years old at the time, drove her car into a building at 100mph. She was seriously injured in the crash, while Russo and Flanagan were killed.
Questions remained for months about how the fatal crash occurred, and eventually Shirilla was charged with murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular homicide, drug possession, and criminal tools possession – all of which she was found guilty of in August 2023.
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Nearly three years on from her trial and Shirilla's case has gained new attention following the release of The Crash on Netflix, which looks into the accident and the now 21-year-old's conviction.
But before The Crash hit the streaming platform, Shirilla's former prison girlfriend Shyann Topping discussed their brief romance on TikTok.
In a video shared back in August 2025, Topping explained that when she and Shirilla 'really started talking', she was just a couple of weeks off from being released.
They dated for a couple of weeks behind bars, and continued their relationship after Topping was released.
Now Topping has opened up about the hate she's received since going public about her romance with Shirilla and explained why their relationship came to an end.
Speaking to People, the ex convict shared: "It was crazy because after I found out [the details] of her case and we stopped talking to each other and it fizzled out, people started texting me and saying crazy stuff to me."
This came after Topping posted a series of videos on TikTok, opening up about her relationship with Shirilla.
The texts involved her mother's name and Topping's home address. She thinks that inmates who were locked up with Mackenzie at the time were the ones sending the texts.
With the cryptic texts in mind, Topping stayed quiet on social media because she feared for her safety. However, following the release of The Crash, she decided to start speaking out again.
When she left prison, Topping was ready to fight for Shirilla's release - but she then learnt more information about the case.
"When I was in [prison], I honestly believed maybe she's not guilty because of the limited information I had," Topping said.
She continued: "When I first got out [of prison] I was like, 'Oh, they don't know what this girl's been through, and then I started going through everything and seeing the evidence and I started thinking about her and I realized, 'Oh my God, maybe she's not a good person.'"