Who Is Mackenzie Shirilla?
Everything you need to know about Jailed ‘The Crash’ Driver
Published
Mackenzie Shirilla is “literal hell on wheels” — at least that’s how the judge felt about her role in the fatal car crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan in 2022 — but who is she, exactly?
Whether you’ve been following Mackenzie’s case for years or are just now hearing the hype over Netflix’s new documentary, “The Crash,” we’ve rounded up everything you need to know.
She was charged with murdering Dominic and Davion
Mackenzie was driving her then-boyfriend Dominic, and her friend Davion home around 5 AM on July 31, 2022 when she crashed her car into the brick wall of a building in Strongsville, Ohio.
Dominic and Davion were killed almost immediately, but Mackenzie was still breathing and taken to the hospital for her injuries.
Police initially thought the crash was an accident, but after months of investigating, they arrested Mackenzie that November … hitting her with a bunch of charges, including multiple counts of murder.
She was going about 100 mph when she crashed
Prosecutors used CCTV from that morning to show Mackenzie’s Toyota Camry making a controlled turn moments before accelerating to a terrifying speed as the car drives straight at the wall. Prosecutors pointed to data from the car’s “black box” system to figure out just how fast she was going.
In the Netflix doc, you can see a spreadsheet that seems to show the data from the last five seconds before the crash.
It showed the car hit around 100 mph in those final moments … and the accelerator was fully floored in the seconds leading up to impact. The data also showed that no one touched the brake during that five-second window.
Prosecutors also brought in a forensic auto investigator who determined the braking, steering, acceleration, and tires of the car had all been working fine … which they argued showed the crash wasn’t caused by a malfunction of the vehicle.
She allegedly threatened Dominic before the crash
Dominic and Mackenzie had been living together, but their relationship was a bit rocky … according to the Netflix doc. In an audio, his brother Angelo told police that Dominic had been trying to break up with Shirilla.
The doc also reveals that — two weeks before the crash — Dominic called his mother, Christine, to say Mackenzie was driving dangerously while he was in the car. So, she sent her friend Christopher “Hench” Martin to track him down.
Christopher told cops in an interview that when he called Dominic to figure out where he was, he heard Mackenzie in the background allegedly saying, “I’ll crash this car.”
As far as Mackenzie’s side of the story goes … she says Dominic had been trying to grab the steering wheel. The doc shows she texted her mom that he was trying to “spin out” her car.
There was no alcohol or psilocybin in her system at the time of the crash
At the scene of the crash, cops found marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, and a digital scale … which initially led police to believe that Mackenzie might’ve been impaired behind the wheel. A blood test did find THC in her system … but no shrooms or alcohol.
Prosecutors said Mackenzie was used to driving under the influence of marijuana, so the THC alone wouldn’t impair her abilities. The Netflix doc even included a montage of social media videos of her smoking in her car.
She blamed the crash on her POTS diagnosis
Mackenzie maintains that she has no memory of the crash or the moments leading up to it … claiming she must’ve had a medical emergency.
Mackenzie’s mom says her daughter was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome — commonly known as POTS — in 2017 and argued that the condition may have caused her to black out and crash the car.
She was sentenced to 2 life sentences
In 2023, Mackenzie was tried as an adult and found guilty on all 12 charges — 4 counts of murder, 4 counts of felonious assault, 2 counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, 1 count of drug possession, and 1 count of possessing criminal tools.
While delivering the verdict, the judge said Mackenzie went from a “responsible driver” to “literal hell on wheels” as she accelerated down the road and crashed the car. She was ultimately sentenced to 2 concurrent sentences of 15 years to life … and she will be eligible for parole starting in 2037.
Former inmate says her prison behavior doesn’t match the doc
Mackenzie is currently serving time at the Ohio Reformatory for Women and did an interview from prison for the Netflix doc, where she maintained that the crash was a complete accident and that she had no recollection of the details.
But a former inmate — who showed screenshots to confirm her time in the clink overlapped with Mackenzie’s — said she was much more of a mean girl than she let on in the doc.
Mary Katherine Crowder said on TikTok … “Mackenzie Shirilla did not walk around that prison yard with an ounce of remorse.”
She claimed Mackenzie was more concerned with doing her makeup and rubbing elbows with the cool kids … even accusing her of putting on a different voice for the doc.
Dominic was 20, and Davion was 19.
RIP.