Mackenzie Shirilla publicly mourned her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, when they died in a car wreck — but the crash wasn’t an accident.

Mackenzie, then 17, Dominic, 20 and Davion, 19, were on their way home from a friend’s house in Strongville, Ohio, shortly after 5 a.m. on July 31, 2022, when Mackenzie’s 2018 Toyota Camry slammed into a brick wall.

Dominic and Davion died almost instantly, and Mackenzie was hospitalized with numerous injuries.

Mackenzie later posted online about how much she missed Dominic, including on his obituary page, where she wrote, “You had such a perfect life ahead of you,” per NBC News.

Her words fell flat after investigators noticed several elements about the crash that didn’t add up.

The case is featured in the Netflix documentary The Crash, which premiered May 15. Here’s what to know about the case involving Mackenzie Shirilla, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan.

Mackenzie and Dominic lived together, but were having problems

Mackenzie and Dominic began dating when she was a freshman in high school.

Their friends and family said in The Crash that the pair were inseparable, and Mackenzie moved in with Dominic after she graduated high school, even though she was only 17 years old at the time.

Mackenzie’s parents, Natalie and Steve Shirilla, believed the pair would get married someday. However, their relationship was volatile. A friend of Mackenzie’s said Dominic cheated on Mackenzie, causing trust issues between them afterward.

Police interviewed the group’s friends after the crash, including one who said Mackenzie was “disrespectful” and often threatened to break up with Dominic.

Dominic’s brother Angelo told detectives that Dominic tried breaking up with Mackenzie several times and that he witnessed Dominic calling Mackenzie’s parents to pick her up because she wouldn’t leave his home. He also provided footage of Mackenzie trying to break into Dominic’s house when he wouldn’t let her inside.

In The Crash, Mackenzie blamed their fights on Dominic’s “poor communication skills.”

Mackenzie threatened Dominic’s life in the weeks before his death

Assistant prosecutor Tim Troup said that there were numerous text messages of Mackenzie threatening Dominic throughout their relationship.

Two weeks before the crash, Dominic told his mother, Christine Russo, that after trying to break up with Mackenzie, Mackenzie began “driving erratically and dangerously” and that he needed help and feared for his safety.

Christine sent a friend, Christopher “Hench” Martin, to pick Dominic up. Martin later told police that he overheard Mackenzie threatening to crash the car at that time and saw her “swinging at” Dominic.

Mackenzie, however, accused Dominic of trying to grab the steering wheel while she was driving. In The Crash, her mom, Natalie, shows text messages between Mackenzie and Christine, in which Mackenzie begged Christine to pick Dominic up because he was trying to “spin out” her car and harm her.

Dominic’s family initially stood by Mackenzie

After the crash, Dominic’s father, Frank Russo, and sister Christine supported Mackenzie, believing it was a tragic accident and the result of alcohol or drugs.

Frank recalled Mackenzie apologizing to him via text and in person, and Christine said she initially felt sorry for Mackenzie.

“You know, they were kids. Accidents happen all the time like that,” Christine said in The Crash. “You never in a million years think, ‘This girl killed your brother.’ “

After they viewed the video footage in court of Mackenzie trying to break into Dominic’s house, they were convinced that she murdered him.

Mackenzie used psychedelics, but not at the time of the crash

Mackenzie, Dominic and Davion went to a friend’s house the evening before the crash and left at about 5 a.m. on July 31, 2022. The crash occurred at 5:36 a.m.

Mackenzie openly used marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms often, and according to Troup, first responders at the crash scene found a small amount of marijuana in Mackenzie’s purse, a digital scale and eight grams of psilocybin mushrooms concealed in her clothing.

However, drug tests found no alcohol or psilocybin in Mackenzie’s system.

Troup said in The Crash that Mackenzie had THC in her system, but was likely accustomed to driving while high on marijuana because she did it frequently.

Dominic and Davion may have tried to stop the car

Video evidence of the final moments before the crash showed Mackenzie’s Camry driving normally, then accelerating to 97.8 miles per hour before hitting a brick wall.

After the collision, a Prada slipper was stuck near the accelerator, leading some to believe it may have gotten stuck and caused the crash. However, forensic auto investigators determined that there was no malfunction in the car and that the slipper was stuck to the floorboard because of the impact.

The “black box” system from Mackenzie’s car showed that in the five seconds before the crash, the accelerator was pressed all the way down and she didn’t brake. About three seconds before impact, there was “steering movement,” and the gear shifted into neutral, then back into drive.

Troup surmised that Dominic and Davion, who weren’t wearing seatbelts, tried grabbing the wheel and gear shift from Mackenzie to try to steer away from the building or slow down, but were too late.

Armed with evidence from forensics auto investigators and surveillance cameras, police arrested Mackenzie on Nov. 7, 2022.

As police cuffed her, she requested that they be careful not to break her bracelets, which had been gifts from Dominic before his death.

Mackenzie claimed to have no memory of the accident and blamed the crash on a medical condition

Mackenzie and her mother, Natalie, insisted that she remembered nothing about the immediate lead up to the crash, but that they believe a “medical emergency” caused it.

Natalie said that Mackenzie was diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) in 2017 and may have blacked out behind the wheel.

According to Cleveland Clinic, POTS symptoms may include brain fog, dizziness or fainting upon standing, anxiety, excessive sweating, chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, headaches, nausea, bloating and disrupted sleep.

Troup argued that the defense never provided evidence from a medical professional to show a medical emergency occurred before the crash.

Mackenzie’s social media activity came under scrutiny after the crash

During the trial, Troup used Mackenzie’s social media posts to argue that she showed a lack of remorse for the crash.

One of the TikTok videos he showed was set to the song “Bubblegum Bitch” by MARINA, specifically with the lyrics, “I’m the girl you die for.” However, Mackenzie posted the video in 2021, a year before the crash.

Troup also showed videos of Mackenzie and her friend, Graham, in Halloween costumes in the days before she was arrested, arguing that she mocked Dominic and Davion’s deaths. Graham, however, said they were in costume as Playboi Carti.

She was convicted of murder and may spend the rest of her life in prison

Mackenzie was tried as an adult in August 2023 and convicted of two counts of murder for Dominic and Davion’s deaths, plus additional counts for aggravated vehicular homicide, drug possession and possessing criminal tools, according to Ohio Supreme Court documents.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo (no relation to Dominic) called Mackenzie “literal hell on wheels” and said, “This was not reckless driving. This was murder.”

Judge Russo sentenced Mackenzie to two concurrent terms of 15 years to life in prison with credit for time served and a permanent suspension of her driver’s license.

“To the families of Dom and Davion, I am so deeply sorry,” Mackenzie said at her sentencing hearing, per WKYC. “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.”

Mackenzie and her family want to overturn her conviction

Mackenzie and her family maintain her innocence and filed to appeal her conviction, claiming they have “ironclad evidence” that wasn’t submitted in her original trial.

Some of that evidence included the texts between Mackenzie and Dominic’s mother Christine. They also submitted remarks from neurologist Dr. Kamal Chemali, WKYC reported, who claimed Mackenzie’s elevated lactate levels, low blood oxygen and memory loss after the incident indicated it was possible she may have had a seizure or lost consciousness before the crash.

Her first appeal was denied for missing the deadline and because an appeals court found Dr. Chemali’s testimony “speculative.”

In April 2025, their second appeal cited “ineffective counsel,” claiming Mackenzie’s prior attorney didn’t retain a medical expert and failed to submit evidence of her POTS diagnosis and texts as evidence.

Today, Mackenzie is in a women’s prison in Marysville, Ohio, and may be eligible for parole in 2037, according to an online database.

“I just wanna make sure that I’m big on the ‘no intent,’ ” Mackenzie said in The Crash after speaking to her attorney on camera. “There was no intent whatsoever there. I have excessive amounts of remorse for Dominic, for Davion, both of their families. This was not intentional, and I will do everything I can to prove that to the world and the families.”