Where Is Mackenzie Shirilla, Subject of ‘The Crash,’ Now?

A deadly car crash in Ohio was initially viewed as a tragedy before spawning a deeper investigation and a murder trial. Now, the 2022 incident is back in the spotlight thanks to a new Netflix documentary. “The Crash,” which begins streaming on May 15, examines an incident in July 2022 in which a car driven by a 17-year-old girl smashed into a brick wall going nearly 100 miles an hour in Strongsville, Ohio. The teen driver survived, but her 20-year-old boyfriend and his 19-year-old friend were killed. Here’s what to know about the case and the documentary. Who is Mackenzie Shirilla? Shirilla, who was 17 at the time, was the driver in a crash in which officers from the Strongsville Police Department in Ohio came upon a wrecked Toyota Camry near an intersection at 6:15 a.m. on July 31, 2022, according to court documents from a 2024 decision by Ohio’s Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Shirilla’s boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene, while an unconscious Shirilla was rushed to the hospital, according to court documents. The manner of death for Russo and Flanagan was initially classified as an accident based on a report by the Strongsville Police Department, according to court documents. The medical examiner’s office concluded that both men died from blunt force injuries consistent with an automobile crash. However, additional evidence submitted by the prosecution in March 2023 resulted in the medical examiner changing the cause of death from accident to homicide, per the 2024 court documents. An investigation by Strongsville police and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office led to a Cuyahoga County grand jury returning a 12-count indictment of Shirilla with four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count each of drug possession and possession of criminal tools, per the 2024 court documents. Shirilla was a minor at the time but was tried as an adult after a juvenile court transferred the case. In August 2023, Shirilla was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty in a bench trial of murder charges for the deaths of Russo and Flanagan, according to WKYC. She had waived her right to a trial by jury and elected to have her charges tried by a judge, according to the 2024 court documents. Prosecutors alleged in court that Shirilla intentionally crashed the car in order to kill Russo because of their tumultuous relationship. “There is no doubt that this happened because of the relationship with Dominic and the defendant’s intent was clearly to end that, and she took everybody that was in the car with her,” Tim Troup of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office said in court after she was found guilty of the charges in August 2023, according to WKYC. In her 2024 appeal that was denied by the court, Shirilla’s attorneys disputed the ruling that Shirilla purposely or knowingly caused the deaths of Russo and Flanagan and said her convictions were not supported by evidence. What Happened in the 2022 Crash in Ohio? The court records from the 2024 decision on Shirilla’s appeal of her convictions describe what first responders found at the scene in the wake of the crash. Michael Galassi, a patrol officer with the Strongsville Police Department, testified that the car looked like it was “cut in half” and the situation was “pretty severe.” In the crash, the vehicle struck a brick wall that was part of a manufacturing facility owned by the company Plidco in Strongsville. Galassi initially believed all three people in the car were dead, but said he heard “mumbling” and determined Shirilla was still alive. Members of the Strongsville Fire Department then used tools to extract all three people from the wrecked vehicle. Brett Stanislaw, a firefighter who assisted at the scene, testified that Shirilla had multiple broken bones. The prosecution argued in court that Shirilla intentionally swerved the car at the brick wall. Her defense said there was no evidence that it was done on purpose. An expert from a regional crash team testified that his analysis of the data recorder in the Toyota Camry found that at no point in the 4.6 seconds before the crash was the brake used, according to the 2024 court documents. A member of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Crash Reconstruction Unit testified that the vehicle was going 97 miles per hour on a 35 mile-per-hour road before it left the roadway, based on his review of the scene of the crash, per the court documents. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo called Shirilla “hell on wheels” in her ruling from the bench, according to video of the proceedings. She referenced footage of the crash gathered by investigators. “The video clearly shows the purpose and intent of the defendant,” Judge Russo said. “She chose a course of death and destruction that day.” “She morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down the street,” Russo continued. “Mackenzie alone made the decision to drive the car, to drive an obscure route, a route she visited a few days before, and a route not routinely taken by her. Mackenzie alone chose a time to make the drive, early in the morning, when any reasonable person would expect few people would be nearby to witness it or offer life-saving assistance. She made these decisions despite knowing, as any reasonable person would, that her mission of death could’ve involved others not even in the car with her — other people, other cars, pedestrians.” “Mackenzie alone decided to push the pedal to the floor and demand the ultimate speed of that vehicle to 92 miles per hour. She alone decided what was to be. Mackenzie decided death was the ultimate goal that day, and she alone made that decision for Dominic and Davion.” A tearful Shirilla read a statement at her sentencing in August 2023 in which she apologized to the families of the victims. “To the families of Dom and Davion, I am so deeply sorry,” she said. “I hope one day you can see how I’d never let this happen or do it on purpose. I wish I could remember what happened. I’m just so sorry. I’m heartbroken. I loved Dom and Davion. We were all friends and Dom was my soulmate. I wish I could take all your pain away. I am so sorry. And to my family, thank for the support and all the love you guys give. Thank you for fighting with me. I love you all so much.” Shirilla’s parents, Steve and Natalie Shirilla, continue to insist she is innocent. “Show me one piece of evidence — one — that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me,” Steve Shirilla told WKYC in 2025. “Then she’s right where she belongs, and she’s guilty of it. But there isn’t any. There’s no evidence (of) what was going on in that car other than information they gleamed from the black box information.” What Is ‘The Crash’ About? The Netflix film puts a particular focus on the relationship between Mackenzie Shirilla and Dominic Russo and the shifting narratives around the case. A friend of Russo’s family named Christopher Martin testified that he overheard Shirilla and Russo arguing in July 2022 and claimed he heard Shirilla saying, “I’m going to wreck this car right now,” according to the 2024 court documents. Martin said under cross-examination that he did not report the incident to police at the time. Russo’s mother, Christine Russo, testified that her son and Shirilla had been dating for about four years at the time of the crash. She said she observed “fighting,” “threats” and “disagreements” between the two in the six months leading up to the fatal crash. Shirilla’s attorneys argued in her 2024 appeal that the prosecution “could not present evidence establishing that Shirilla was angry at Russo or otherwise upset immediately before the crash,” per the court documents. Where Is Mackenzie Shirilla Now? Shirilla, who is now 21, is serving her 15-year sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, according to inmate records. She will be eligible for parole or release in 2037. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Shirilla’s conviction in a ruling in September 2024, according to court documents from the decision. The Ohio Supreme Court declined to review Shirilla’s appeal in April 2025, according to WKYC. In March 2026, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld its 2024 ruling to deny Shirilla’s request for a new trial, per WKYC. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, who found Shirilla guilty in the bench trial, declared the petition invalid because it was filed one day after the deadline mandated by Ohio law, per WKYC. The Court of Appeals agreed with Russo’s reasoning in its ruling.