Netflix's new true crime documentary The Crash has reignited the debate around Mackenzie Shirilla, who was convicted of killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan in a 2022 crash.
Since its debut on May 15, both true crime obsessives and curious onlookers have dissected the doc, which revisits the devastating case and its aftermath. The Crash also includes the first on-camera interview with Shirilla, who is now serving two concurrent life sentences in Ohio.
According to prosecutors, a 17-year-old Shirilla intentionally crashed her car into the side of a brick building on the morning of July 31, 2022, in an effort to harm Russo. Shirilla maintains her innocence and claims to have no recollection of the event, which she believes happened as a result of POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), a medical condition that can cause dizziness and fainting.
The Crash introduces additional evidence and gives Shirilla and her family a chance to tell their side of the story, for better or worse. But the documentary is also receiving criticism for leaving out what many believe to be important information about the case.
Here are some of the items that were left out:
1. Shirilla may have asked her mom to tell police she had a seizure
The Crash isn’t the first documentary about Shirilla's case, which was previously featured in a season 4 episode of the docuseries Killer Cases. The episode, titled “Murder on Wheels,” includes audio recorded by Det. Zaki Hazou, who visited Shirilla in the hospital where she was airlifted after the crash.
“The detective, he did record maybe a few minutes, just audio of her interacting with the detective and her mother," explains lead prosecutor Tim Troup, noting that Shirilla's mother, Natalie, was present. Hazou can be heard telling Shirilla that the police are investigating the incident as "an aggravated vehicular homicide times two," referring to the deaths of Russo and Flanagan. Shirilla interjects and asks, in reference to her mother, "Can I say something to her real quick?" The detective agrees.
Shirilla then speaks to her mother in what Troup describes as "a gibberish or a distortion of the English language. It's kind of like Pig Latin."
It's unclear what Shirilla is saying to her mother, but Troup believes she asks, "Can we tell the police I had a seizure? Can we tell the police something like that?" Shirilla can also be heard asking the detective, "Can't you just take my license away for like, 10 years?"
According to court documents, first responder Brett Stanislaw testified that Shirilla's "pulse, motor, and sensation in her four extremities" were all normal when he arrived on the scene, which "ruled out a stroke, seizure or other significant neurological emergency."
Stanislaw also acknowledged that Shirilla could have had a seizure before medical personnel arrived and "there would be no signs of it” during the evaluation. He noted that her blood oxygen level was "extremely low" and indicative of someone who "just went into cardiac arrest or just came back out of cardiac arrest."
2. Shirilla allegedly drove the route of the crash in the days leading up to the incident
The Crash also omits one of the most hotly debated pieces of evidence in the case. Per court documents, GPS data from Shirilla's phone shows that she was in the area of the crash, at the intersection of Progress and Alameda, on July 28, 2022, just three days before the incident.
This detail is explored in a season 2 episode of the true crime docuseries Mean Girl Murders, titled "Under the Influence." The GPS data from July 28 is presented as evidence that Shirilla was conducting a "dry run" a few days before the crash. Prosecutor Troup appears in this series as well and says he believes "Mackenzie knew exactly what she was going to do" when she turned onto Progress.
The intersection in question is located in an industrial office park in Strongsville, Ohio. In court, Detective Hazou conceded that GPS data from cellphones is approximate, so it's possible that Shirilla was not at that exact intersection on July 28.
In its determination, the court referred to that stretch of road as an "obscure route" and said it was "not routinely taken" by Shirilla, though there doesn't appear to be additional evidence suggesting that she had or had not taken the route prior to July 28.
During the trial, Michael Galassi, the first officer to respond to the scene, testified that the route is a known "cut-through" to avoid traffic, and that drivers often exceed the speed limit when taking it.
3. Shirilla was the only one in the car wearing a seatbelt
Mean Girl Murders includes an additional detail left out of The Crash: Shirilla was wearing a seatbelt.
"She did have airbags, and the primary impact was on the passenger side of the car," Troup says. "She was incredibly lucky to be alive. Anybody would be lucky to be alive from a crash of this magnitude."
It's a conspicuous detail to some, as Det. Hazou testified that he reviewed Shirilla's social media and "documented over a hundred instances" of "distracted or reckless driving."
Russo and Flanagan were not wearing seatbelts, Troup confirms, adding that "the destruction on especially the passenger side of the car was so bad that airbags would have been almost useless" and "they couldn't have survived."
4. Russo's sister says Shirilla's mom lied about her daughter's condition
The Russo family initially believed the crash was an accident, and tried to check on Shirilla in the days following the incident.
"We thought it was an accident for a while, and we were really, really worried about Mackenzie and how she was doing," Russo's sister Christine said on a recent episode of her podcast. Christine claimed that Shirilla's mom, Natalie, lied to their family about Mackenzie's condition. "We were seeing how she was for about three days," Christine said. "For three days, her mother told us that she was unconscious and hadn't woken up."
She continued, "Natalie told me, my dad and my sister for days that [Mackenzie] was unconscious... And now looking back, she was waiting to form her story."
According to NBC News, Shirilla was unconscious when she was discovered by first responders, but there is no documentation showing she remained unconscious. In his testimony, first responder Officer Michael Galassi said it wasn't until he heard "mumbling" that he realized someone in the vehicle was still alive. One of the first things Shirilla said at the scene was, "How is Davion?"
Shirilla was also conscious when Det. Hazou visited the hospital and recorded her speaking "gibberish" with her mother.
A lawyer for Shirilla did not immediately respond when we reached out for comment...
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