In 2022, Mackenzie Shirilla was a wannabe social influencer with big dreams for her future. But those plans came to a devastating halt on July 31 of that year when the 17-year-old crashed her car into a building at nearly 100 mph. Miraculously, Shirilla survived the high-speed crash, but her boyfriend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, both died. As Shirilla recovered, investigators began to think the driver intentionally plowed into the building. Police eventually arrested her, and a court convicted her of two counts of murder.
The new Netflix documentary The Crash, which started airing May 15, 2026, takes a deep dive into Shirilla’s case and has so many people convinced this wasn’t an accident at all.
The police bodycam footage from the scene is graphic.
Shirilla drove a 2018 Toyota Camry the day of the crash, and it’s easy to see by the mangled remains that she was driving extremely fast. As the documentary shows, officers arrive at the scene in Strongsville, Ohio, just before 7 a.m. and immediately call for backup. “Oh my God times three, guys,” an officer says in the footage. “This is bad, guys.”
Russo and Flanagan reportedly died on impact, but Shirilla survived. Emergency responders used the jaws of life to pull the car apart and rescue the teen from the wreckage. They airlifted her to an area hospital for treatment.
Shirilla began to recover at a hospital.
As the teenager healed from her injuries, investigators took a deeper look into the crash and began to wonder if Shirilla, Russo, and Flanagan did drugs or drank alcohol prior to getting into the car. Cellphone data revealed Shirilla had made threats toward Russo just weeks before the crash, Time reported.
The teenage girl who wanted the world to believe she was sweet and in love might have had nefarious intentions. On November 4, just three months after the crash, police arrested Shirilla during a traffic stop on charges connected to Russo and Flanagan’s deaths.
Shirilla opted for a bench trial.
Following her arrest, the teenager and her family consulted with their lawyer and opted for a bench trial. In court, evidence against Shirilla was particularly damning, according to the documentary. The Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office shared text messages between Shirilla and Russo that painted a picture of a toxic relationship that seemed destined for failure. The 17-year-old reportedly became increasingly aggressive and threatening in the weeks leading up to the crash.
During the trial, prosecutors stated that not only was Shirilla driving close to 100 mph at the time of the crash, but she also did not apply the brakes. In fact, the car’s recording system showed the teenager’s foot fully engaging the accelerator. She never braked or even tried to slow down.
A judge, who called Shirilla “literal hell on wheels,” sentenced her to two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison, NBC News reported. She will have her first parole hearing in 2037. The judge said in court that she chose that sentence because she doesn’t believe Shirilla will be released in 15 years and could very well be behind bars for life.
Was Shirilla a monster?
Shirilla’s family doesn’t believe she intentionally crashed the car and instead believes she may have suffered a medical episode. In interviews during the documentary, they appeared almost flippant about the young men’s deaths and in total denial of their daughter’s mean girl tendencies.
Recent prison interviews with the now 21-year-old show a more mature Shirilla who still seems to be chasing fame. She claims in the documentary that she’s “not a monster,” but the justice system disagreed.
Even though many signs point to Shirilla initially crashing the car, it leaves us wondering if this was a murder-suicide attempt gone wrong or an accident. We may never know.
