Did a teen plan a killer car crash?
MACKENZIE SHIRILLA WAS FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING HER BOYFRIEND AND HIS FRIEND
In August 2023, a US court in Strongsville, Cleveland, convicted Mackenzie Shirilla for the murders of her boyfriend and his friend after a horror car smash. But while she is serving a life sentence for the deaths, she continues to maintain she does not remember the details of that fateful night – and that she is not guilty of murder. What is certain is that the teenager was driving the car and, while she survived, Dominic Russo,
20, and Davion Flanagan, 19, died instantly. Now, following a failed appeal in late 2024, where a judge upheld her conviction, the case continues to garner public intrigue – most recently after police released new bodycam footage of her arrest.
‘MEAN GIRL’
Aged 16, Shirilla was a well-known Strongsville high-school student.
Her classmates said she liked to model herself of Regina George, the antagonist from the 2004 film Mean Girls, and with legions of teenage girls following her around at school, Shirilla lived out her life on social media. She posted constantly about her outfits, friends and opulent lifestyle, and Shirilla had built up her following to the point that
companies had begun to show interest in her as an influencer for fashion and make-up, sending her clothes to model on Tiktok.
Her perfect face and figure were matched by her handsome and wealthy boyfriend.
Three years her senior, Dominic Russo had made huge sums in stocks and shares, starting his own clothing line and owning his own home next door to his parents. Shirilla moved into Dominic’s, and the couple regularly held parties, had friends over, and were by all accounts inseparable. But cracks were starting to appear in the couple’s three-year union – they argued frequently, and Shirilla was said to be overtly controlling of Dominic. By summer 2022, friends said they could sense their relationship was coming to an end. Dominic had started to post fewer photos of his
Insta-perfect girlfriend and was seemingly growing tired of her high-maintenance demands. But before an official break-up ever happened, a tragedy would occur.
COLOSSAL SPEED
July 30 2022 was a perfect summer’s evening and Strongsville was awash with high-school graduation parties. Eager to have some fun and get that all-important social media content, Shirilla and Dominic picked up their friend, Davion Flanagan, and headed to a friend’s party. A handsome star football player, Davion had been friends with Dominic for years and the two often made music together in Dominic’s home recording studio. With his good looks and talent, Davion was just the right person for Shirilla to be seen with.
After reaching their friend Kelly’s party and finding it was not quite the rave they were hoping for, after 30 minutes, they left to go to another friend’s home. At 1am, Shirilla fell asleep on the couch there until 5.30am, when the trio decided to drive home. It was a beautiful morning, and the roads were clear and dry, making driving conditions perfect.
CCTV footage taken at 5.34am showed Shirilla driving slowly and indicating at a crossroads where she made a turn. But just 50 seconds later, a second camera mounted on the side of a building captured Shirilla’s car driving at a colossal speed with no brake lights visible at any time. Shirilla then drove her Toyota Camry straight into a brick wall at a speed of 100mph. It was 6.15am when the police and paramedics arrived on the
scene. Authorities described the car as looking like it ‘exploded’, and pieces of the vehicle were scattered all over the remote industrial estate.
Officers could be heard on bodycam footage saying the car had split in two, as they called for back-up and attempted to break out a passenger that was visible in the driver’s seat. Another traumatised officer was heard describing the scene as ‘the worst I’ve ever seen’. They soon discovered the female driver of the car was still breathing, but the two male passengers were both deceased. They were not wearing their seatbelts, but the impact was so severe, it was a miracle anyone survived.
Shirilla was freed from the vehicle and airlifted to hospital. She had multiple broken bones and underwent surgery several times. When she was told Dominic and Davion had not survived, she was, according to witnesses, inconsolable. She had a long road to recovery ahead and she was keen to update her followers of her wellbeing. Despite being in a neck brace, she posted photos of herself in her hospital bed, showing the surroundings of her room with cards and balloons. But she was the only survivor of the fatal crash and the authorities – along with
‘THE IMPACT WAS SO SEVERE, IT’S A MIRACLE ANYONE SURVIVED’
Dominic and Davion’s families – wanted answers.
PRIOR THREATS
Initially, police believed the crash was a deadly accident. Toxicology reports revealed THC in Shirilla’s blood, consistent with smoking marijuana, yet CCTV footage contradicted the idea that a teenager high on marijuana was operating the vehicle. Investigators then began working on the theory that someone may have tampered with her car as revenge for something she’d done at school. However, a forensic mechanic concluded that the braking system and acceleration were working correctly, and there was no tampering of the vital systems.
When asked about the events that led up to the crash, Shirilla said she could not remember anything that had happened and had blacked out. On the day of Dominic’s funeral, she posted a tribute to her boyfriend where she wrote, ‘You are the last person to deserve this. You had such a perfect life ahead of you.’ But the truth was Shirilla had made threats against her boyfriend before, and now those threats were beginning to paint a very suspicious picture of events.
In a video filmed by Dominic uncovered after the fatal crash, Shirilla can be heard on a phone call with her boyfriend threatening him unless he came to open the door to his home to let her in. ‘Dom, if you do not open… I mean, you think I’m joking… I’m not joking.’ Dom replied, ‘What do you mean?’ To which Mackenzie answers, ‘You’re gonna come open this door right now or there’s gonna be a serious fucking problem, right? I’m gonna break something.’ Investigators soon learned this was far from an isolated incident. Dominic’s family would tell police that, two weeks before the crash, he had called his mother while he was
in a car with Shirilla, telling her his girlfriend was driving erratically and threatening to crash the car.
ARRESTED
‘SHE BEGAN TRENDING ON SOCIAL MEDIA DUE TO THE TRAGEDY’
While police attempted to piece together the events, Shirilla was enjoying a surge in followers on her social media. While she was trending due to the horrific tragedy, modelling agencies were contacting her to try and sign her, and she couldn’t have been happier. She was photographed attending a concert while still in a wheelchair and, to Davion’s family’s horror, three months after the death of their son, she posted photos of her and two friends dressed as corpses for Halloween. Another example of her seeming lack of remorse came when she posted a video of herself to Tiktok, beaming wide-eyed as she mouthed the words, ‘I’m just one of those girls that can do a lot of drugs and not die.’
Davion’s younger sister was so distressed by the social media images, she urged her parents to contact the police. But they were already building a case against Shirilla. They now believed she had crashed the car on purpose, theorising that she knew her relationship with Dominic was all but over, and couldn’t bear the thought of losing her perfect life. Investigators believed she orchestrated the crash to end both of their lives, not counting on the fact that she could survive.
GPS data taken from Shirilla’s mobile phone showed that, three days before the crash, she had visited the site in the middle of an industrial estate. Prosecutors later argued this showed evidence of her making a ‘dry run’. Davion, prosecutors alleged, was collateral damage and the unfortunate victim of her desperate plan.
On 4 November 2022, Shirilla was arrested as she was leaving hospital.
Facing 12 charges, including aggravated murder, she was tried as an adult. In the video of her arrest released late last year, she asks the officers to be careful with her bracelets as they handcuff her. With many commenting it was yet another illustration of her lack of empathy, others still fervently believe she is the innocent victim of a car fault. They suggest her sandal became stuck underneath the accelerator pedal, rendering her unable to control the vehicle until it spiralled out of control and hit a brick wall.
However, on 12 August 2023,
Shirilla was found guilty on all counts. Addressing her directly, the judge said, ‘This was not reckless driving, this was murder. There’s only one person responsible for everyone’s pain in this room and that person is you.’ Handed two concurrent life sentences, Shirilla will serve a minimum of 15 years behind bars and will be eligible for parole in 2035. ■