Driver described as 'hell on wheels' breaks silence in 'The Crash' doc

• Netflix's new documentary "The Crash" investigates a fatal collision that killed Dominic Russo, 20, and Davion Flanagan, 19.
• Around 5:30 a.m. on July 31, 2022, Mackenzie Shirilla, then 17, drove her car, going approximately 100 mph, into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio.
• Shirilla, who did not testify at her 2023 trial, tells filmmakers she did not act intentionally and she is "not a monster.”

Spoiler alert: This story contains details from Netflix’s documentary “The Crash,” including the outcome of Mackenzie Shirilla’s trial.

Gareth Johnson, director of Netflix’s new true-crime documentary “The Crash,” was drawn to the story's fatal car wreck as soon as he heard about it.

At 18, Johnson was a passenger in a deadly car crash that took place in 1992, shortly after graduating high school. Of his injuries, his three shattered vertebrae required the longest recovery time.

“In the hospital, I could see the ripple effects of the crash that I was involved in on [my] family and friends and people around me,” he tells USA TODAY. “I always felt like I kind of had the easier ride because it was so traumatic for those around me.”

When he heard about Mackenzie Shirilla’s collision, highlighted in the documentary (now streaming on Netflix), he “was interested in understanding the flip side of my experience.”

Around 5:30 a.m. on July 31, 2022, 17-year-old Shirilla rammed her Toyota Camry at approximately 100 mph into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio. The impact killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, seated in the passenger seat, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, riding in the back seat.

Shirilla’s defense team says Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which can cause fainting, caused the teen to pass out at the wheel. In the doc, Shirilla claims she has no memory of the event.

But law enforcement believes Shirilla acted intentionally and charged her with multiple counts of murder. Though she pleaded not guilty during the 2023 bench trial, a judge found Shirilla guilty of all charges, and she was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Here’s what to know about the case and “The Crash.”

Mackenzie Shirilla and Dominic Russo had a tempestuous romance

Shirilla and Russo had a turbulent relationship, conveyed by filmmakers through volatile messages and videos. “I would watch your back from now on,” she once messaged him, “and your house and your car and your life."

Assistant prosecutor Tim Troup says two weeks before the crash, Russo phoned his mother, Christine Russo, asking for help as Shirilla drove “erratically and dangerously.” A family friend who intervened said he heard Shirilla threaten to crash the vehicle.

Shirilla's mom, Natalie Shirilla, later disputed this recollection of events by presenting text messages to filmmakers, in which Shirilla asked Christine to pick up her son after he allegedly tried to grab the wheel while she was driving.

Investigators found crucial evidence for their case

According to Troup, first responders found marijuana in Shirilla’s purse and Psilocybin mushrooms on her person when they arrived on scene. A toxicology report later found THC in Shirilla's system, but no Psilocybin or alcohol. Troup doesn’t believe impairment caused the crash.

Another notable discovery was made by Ryan Fox, a sergeant with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, who says a recording system in Shirilla’s car logged “approximately five seconds of precrash data." During that time, the gas pedal was pushed to the floor, and no one attempted to brake.

“The data shows that around three seconds before the impact, there was some steering input,” Fox says. “Right movement, left movement, and then a hard right movement. It shifted from drive into neutral, back into drive again.”

Troup believes these were attempts by Russo and Flanagan to stay alive.

Judge convicts ‘hell on wheels’ Mackenzie Shirilla of murders

Police arrested Shirilla on Nov. 4, 2022, and charged her with numerous crimes, including multiple counts of murder. Shirilla then opted for a bench trial, which means the case was presented to a judge without a jury.

Shirilla was tried as an adult during the proceedings that began on Aug. 7, 2023. A week later, on Aug. 14, 2023, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo convicted Shirilla of all charges − including the murders of Russo and Flanagan.

“[Shirilla] morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down the street,” Russo said, using video footage from the crash to inform her verdict. “She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was death.”

Where is Mackenzie Shirilla now?

Shirilla did not testify during the bench trial, but chose to read a statement at her sentencing on Aug. 21, 2023. Through her tears, she apologized to Russo's and Flanagan's families while maintaining her innocence.

“I hope one day you can see I would never let this happen or do it on purpose," she said.

Judge Russo ultimately sentenced Shirilla to 15 years to life for Flanagan and 15 years to life for Russo, to be served concurrently.

Shirilla is imprisoned at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, about 130 miles from Strongsville. In March, Ohio’s Court of Appeals denied Shirilla’s petition as her team “filed one day past the 365-day jurisdictional deadline.” She is eligible for parole in 2037.

Securing the Mackenzie Shirilla interview

It took a while for Johnson and producer Angharad Scott to get an interview with Shirilla in prison, especially since she hadn't been interviewed by police before or after her arrest.

So, during their hour-long interview, the filmmakers set out to ask the “hard questions,” pressing Shirilla on her lack of memory of the crash and the belief that POTS could be to blame.

“This has obviously been months and months of work, so we're all in,” Scott tells USA TODAY. “There was a nervous energy in the room … She felt like her voice has never been heard and that she's never been able to put her side across, and I got the sense that she wanted to really use this opportunity to do so.”

Mackenzie Shirilla's final commentary

Toward the end of the interview in the doc, Shirilla is asked if there’s anything else she’d like to add. She turns to her attorney, who is off-camera, for guidance.

“I don’t want to force anything and just say too much or sound crazy,” Shirilla says. “I just want to make sure that I’m big on the no intent. There was no intent whatsoever there. I have excessive amounts of remorse for Dominic, 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.”

It’s a moment that may make viewers question the integrity of her remarks. Johnson finds Shirilla’s curiosity about how she’s coming across “understandable,” given her appeal.

“I think she wanted to make sure that she got certain points across," that she felt strongly that she wanted to communicate," Johnson says. "From our perspective, it's up to the viewer to judge whether she's being sincere … I think that’s the essential question."

“Mackenzie knows that every single piece of footage that she's ever produced,” Scott adds. "Anything that she's ever said has been scrutinized and is out there. We saw that in the trial with the way her social media was used, so I think she is someone who's very self-aware and conscious of how people might interpret her words and her actions.”