Five important details Netflix's Mackenzie Shirilla documentary didn't show
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, Netflix, True crime, Crime, Ohio
Thomas Bamford
Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, Netflix, True crime, Crime, Ohio
More shocking details keep coming out of the Mackenzie Shirilla case, the subject of the hugely popular true-crime Netflix documentary The Crash.
The new Netflix documentary has reignited interest in the controversial case about convicted killer Mackenzie Shirilla, exploring the details surrounding the crash that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan.
Shirilla has insisted that she blacked out and never meant to kill them, despite prosecutors arguing she drove with intent into a wall at more than 100 miles per hour. Black box evidence proved that she was pressing down the accelerator as the car collided with a wall.
Now 21 and serving 15 years to life behind bars, Shirilla broke her silence for the first time in the 90-minute documentary, insisting she is innocent and claiming she suffered a seizure moments before the crash.
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This marks Shirilla’s first prison interview since her conviction and has generated substantial debate around intent, accountability, and justice.
Law & Crime shared five interesting details that the documentary didn't dive into, that could change your perspective on the case entirely.
Cell phone data indicated that Mackenzie Shirilla was in the vicinity of the crash site days before the incident, which prosecutors argued suggested she was scoping out the location.
Shortly after the crash, while hospitalized, Shirilla and her mother reached out to a Los Angeles modeling agency seeking employment, which the prosecution used to argue she was attempting to capitalize on her role as a victim.
Shirilla sent text messages to a classmate asking them to retrieve photos of her from Dominic Russo’s room to place in his casket so he could be 'with her forever'.
Prosecutors introduced video evidence showing Shirilla attending a concert in a wheelchair months after the crash, using it to demonstrate a lack of remorse while the investigation was still ongoing.
Authorities were informed that Shirilla was seen driving a car in Strongsville shortly after the event, despite her mother’s testimony about her dizziness and medical condition, which countered claims regarding her inability to operate a vehicle safely.
Shirilla did not testify during her trial, instead choosing to read a statement at her sentencing in August 21, 2023. While crying, she apologized to the Flanagan and Russo family, but still protested her innocence.
She said: “I hope one day you can see I would never let this happen or do it on purpose."
Judge Russo ultimately sentenced Shirilla to 15 years to life for Flanagan and 15 years to life for Russo, to be served concurrently. Shirilla is imprisoned at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, about 130 miles from Strongsville.
In March, Ohio’s Court of Appeals denied Shirilla’s petition as her team 'filed one day past the 365-day jurisdictional deadline'. She is eligible for parole in 2037.
17 July 2022 - Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend Dominic Russo get into an argument. A friend allegedly overhears Shirilla tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”
31 July 2022 - Shirilla is driving Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, from Russo’s home to a friend’s house. At around 5.30am, she crashes the car into a Plidco Building in Strongsville, Ohio, traveling at 100mph without braking. Police arrive on the scene 45 minutes later. Russo and Flanagan are pronounced dead and Shirilla is transported to MetroHealth Medical Cente.
August 2022 - 200 people attend a vigil for Russo and Flanagan. Shirilla remains in critical condition. When a detective visits her in hospital, she is said to be speaking a ‘unique language’ similar to pig Latin.
October 2022 - Shirilla attends a Halloween party wearing fancy dress which resembles a corpse, which Davion’s father considers in very poor taste. He says in Netflix’s The Crash: “Dressing up as corpses three months after she killed two people, it just sickened us to the very core.”
4 November 2022 - Shirilla is arrested and faces 18 charges, including two counts of aggravated murder. She also faces charges for allegedly breaking into the Columbia Church of God in Columbia Station days before the crash, along with drug possession charges.
7 August 2023 - Shirilla’s trial begins. Her defence team argue she may have passed out at the time of the crash due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), but no medical records or expert testimony confirms the diagnosis.
14 August 2023 - Shirilla is found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo calls her ‘hell on wheels’, and the court concludes she intentionally crashed the car in a premeditated act.
23 August 2023 - Shirilla is sentenced to two concurrent 15 years to life sentences. Her legal team later lose an appeal and relief petition. She remains incarcerated in the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
22 May 2025 - Shirilla’s parents insist that she’s innocent. Her father Steve tells WKYC: “Show me one piece of evidence - one - that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me, then she's right where she belongs and she's guilty of it. But there isn't any.” Her mother Natalie claims there are texts in which Shirilla says Russo was ‘trying to end her life’.
15 May 2026 - Netflix’s The Crash premieres. In it, Shirilla insists she is ‘not a murderer’ and has no memory of the crash, continuing to blame POTS.
18 May 2026 - Steve Shirilla is placed on administrative leave from his job as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland following allegations he had ‘demonstrated poor judgement’. Viewers of Netflix’s documentary objected to his attitude towards Shirilla’s marijuana use and his dismissal of claims she told a classmate to end their life.
September 2037 - This is when Shirilla will be eligible for parole
Netflix have been approached for comment.