Mackenzie Shirilla’s ‘tone deaf’ social media posts saw teen convicted of two murders in 100mph crash
On 31 July 2022, police responded to a cataclysmic 100mph car crash that killed two Ohio high school graduates.
Dominic Russo, 20, and 19-year-old Davion Flanagan were pronounced dead at the scene. Officers described the collision in bodycam footage as the most severe they had witnessed, noting the 2018 Toyota Camry had split in two.
The sole survivor of the crash was 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla, Dominic's long-term girlfriend and a close friend of Davion, who'd been driving the car through Strongsville in the early hours of the morning after the trio attended a party.
In the days after being airlifted from the scene and undergoing several surgeries, Mackenzie was interviewed by police. She alleged she'd blacked out ahead of the fatal collision, a side effect of her Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) diagnosis, and couldn't remember a thing.
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One year and one month later, a judge handed Mackenzie a life sentence after deeming that she'd acted intentionally in murdering Dominic and Davion.
The case has now reared its ugly head with of the release of Netflix's latest true-crime documentary, The Crash, available to watch from 15 May.
The feature-length film reflects on the several pieces of evidence that were gathered by prosecutors who suspected there was more to the story, much of which hinged on disturbing social media posts Mackenzie shared both before and after the crash.
'Deliberate' driving
As with all suspicious road traffic collisions, a team of investigators quickly assessed crash footage.
They were immediately struck by how quickly Mackenzie appeared to drive the car directly towards the Plidco Building, without attempting to slow down.
Also deemed a 'red flag' was the path the vehicle had travelled, which remained straight and controlled until the moment it hit the wall. This suggested that Mackenzie had driven the car purposefully into the building, rather than the car itself accidentally spinning out of control.
"I looked back at the video of Mackenzie turning from Parole Road onto Progress, and it just didn't add up," Tim Troup, the assistant prosecutor in the case, reflected in the documentary.
"It was not someone who was driving with the music loud, throwing beer cans out the window of the car. This turning was controlled and deliberate."
Toxicology reports quickly came back, finding no trace of alcohol in Mackenzie's system. While they did find THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive compound found in cannabis) in her system, given her prior affinity for smoking marijuana - which had been well documented on social media - prosecutors didn't believe the crash had been caused by her driving under the influence.
'100 percent acceleration, 0 percent brake'
In court, a forensic mechanical expert was also called to the stand, where he confirmed that the car's pedal had been pushed down to 100 percent capacity for several seconds leading up to the crash, averaging at 98.7mph until the moment of impact.
Equally, the brake had been applied at 0 percent, suggesting no attempt was made by Mackenzie to stop the car.
Data presented during the trial also showed that in the three seconds prior to the crash, the gear shifted from 'Drive' into 'Neutral', then back into 'Drive' again.
Prosecutors used this as evidence that Dominic and Davion had actually attempted to save their own lives before impact.
"I think Dominic and Davion were grabbing on the wheel, grabbing at the gearshift, but it was just too late," Troup said in the documentary.
'Tone deaf' TikToks
Another factor that contributed to Mackenzie's conviction was the social media posts she uploaded immediately after the crash.
On the day she was discharged from the hospital, she shared a vlog being rolled out in a wheelchair.
Weeks later, Mackenzie shared footage of herself attempting to contact Dominic with a Ouija board alongside his grieving father.
Several clothing brands and modelling agencies also began reaching out to Mackenzie following the crash through the comment section of her Instagram posts, asking her to collaborate.
She responded to one comment days after the crash, telling them: "Thank you for the comment, I would love to work with you guys, I've been emailing you guys a lot!! Such a great opportunity thank you."
Davion's adoptive father, Scott Flanagan, spotted the remark online, describing it in the documentary as 'tone deaf'.
He said: "She just doesn't get how much anguish she's caused. No one in their right mind would post about being thrilled about this opportunity after they'd just killed two people in a horrific accident.
"It just felt off."
Three months after Dominic and Davion's deaths, Mackenzie also posted TikToks she later claimed were purely satirical, one of which appeared to show her dressing as a corpse for Halloween.
In another damning video, she told her online followers: "I’m just one of those girls that can do a lot of drugs and not die."
In a third, she lip-synced to a song with the lyrics: "I'm the girl you die for," part of a viral trend at the time using a Marina and the Diamonds song, 'Bubblegum B***h'.
Footage was also shown in court from Mackenzie's social media accounts, which showed her attending concerts and parties in the weeks immediately following the collision.
It wasn't until Dominic and Davion's families raised these chilling uploads with the police, urging them to investigate the incident more closely, that a more detailed picture of Mackenzie's personality began to take shape.
'Toxic' teen romance
Speaking to other members of their friendship group, detectives found that Mackenzie and Dominic's relationship had been far from perfect and was considered 'toxic' by many of those who knew them.
It was found that two weeks prior to the collision, Mackenzie had threatened to crash her car while Dominic was inside during a fiery argument. Fearing for her son's life, his mother was forced to intervene, pleading with a friend to flag down the vehicle and return Dominic home.
Text messages, phone video footage and voice notes also heard Mackenzie made several physical threats of violence against her boyfriend, including keying his car, and breaking the handle to the door of their shared home.
Several of her former classmates also came forward, claiming Mackenzie had bullied them in the years prior.
Eventually, Dominic's older brother, Angelo, spoke to police, recalling that he'd attempted to break up with Mackenzie 'multiple times' prior to the crash - even as late as weeks before.
"It kept not working out," Angelo is heard explaining in police station interview footage. "They kept making back up. Dom would have to call Kenzie's parents, call her mom, and say, 'Hey, you need to come get Kenzie out of here, she's refusing to leave my house, she's being crazy'."
He added: "Kenzie let us know she will never get rid of Dom - if she has to let go of Dom, she will not go on living herself."
Arrest, trial and sentencing
Having gathered enough evidence, police arrested Mackenzie on 4 November.
She was charged with 17 crimes, including two counts of aggravated murder, but pleaded not guilty.
Appearing in court for a bench trial the following August, Mackenzie made several excuses for the fatal collision, insisting she had no memory of the crash.
She told attendees: "I wish I could remember what happened... I would never let this happen or do it on purpose."
Mackenzie also cited her alleged battle with POTS, claiming the disorder had caused her to pass out behind the wheel.
Medical evaluators who'd attended the scene of the collision, however, noted that Mackenzie had been alert as they airlifted her from the vehicle, ruling out the possibility that she'd experienced a neurological emergency.
In light of the extent of the evidence presented in court, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo ruled that Mackenzie's actions had been premeditated and that she'd intentionally crashed the car, branding the graduate 'hell on wheels'.
She was charged with 12 counts - four murder charges, four felonious assault charges, two aggravated vehicular homicide charges, one drug possession charge and one possession of criminal tools charge.
During her subsequent sentencing, Mackenzie burst into tears as she was handed two concurrent 15-year-to-life prison terms, with the possibility of parole in 15 years.
Mackenzie's final comments
Speaking out on the case for the first time since her conviction from within the walls of Ohio Reformatory for Women, Mackenzie told Netflix producers she now wanted to tell her 'side of the story'.
"I want to say my truth," she began. "I know myself, and I'm not a monster."
Doubling down on the claims she made in court, Mackenzie told producers: "It was like 5:00am and we'd decided to head back to Dom's house. I remember turning on the street, and then I'm waking up in the hospital the next day, and my whole life is shattered.
"The whole morning is nothing - it sounds crazy, but I'm not going to lie just because people want to hear a story. I have no recollection of that morning."
In an eerie comment, Mackenzie went on to admit: "I'm not saying I'm innocent. I was the driver of a tragedy, but I'm not a murderer."
Her parole hearing will take place in 2038.
The Crash is available on Netflix from 15 May.
Topics: True Crime, Crime, US News, Documentaries, Netflix
Rhianna Benson