Dominic Russo's sister calls out 'lies' in The Crash from Mackenzie Shirilla's friends as she makes major accusation
Netflix’s The Crash has already been an incredibly controversial documentary, with multiple interviewees feeling the backlash of the documentary.
The Netflix doc tells the story of Mackenzie Shirilla’s 100 mph crash which killed her two passengers, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan.
Mackenzie’s dad, Steve Shirilla, was suspended from his job as a teacher shortly after the documentary aired, and Mackenzie’s close friend Rosie Graham released a statement on her TikTok after receiving backlash for her interview in the doc.
Rosie and Bubba Turner both speak in the documentary, representing the ‘friendship group’ which was supposedly made up of the duo along with Davion, Mackenzie, and Dominic.
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Bubba early on in the documentary calls it the ‘best friendship group I’ve had in my life’, but Dominic’s older sister Christine has slammed him and Rosie, claiming the pair were merely ‘acquaintances’ to her brother, suggesting they were friends of Mackenzie instead.
Christine Russo claims ‘not nice things’ said about Dominic were cut from the doc
In an interview with Jesse Webber on the Law & Crime Network, Christine Russo said that she decided to begin conducting interviews due to ‘misinformation running wild’ on the internet about her brother.
Dominic was Mackenzie’s boyfriend, with prosecutors claiming she crashed the car to end their toxic relationship by killing him. She denies this claim. Christine spoke specifically about Rosie and ‘Bubba’, whose real name is Landon, using them as examples of ‘misinformation’ from the documentary.
She said: “Landon and Rosie, they make themselves out to be my brother and Davion’s best friend. They told the world on Netflix that they were best friends and at the same time they turn around and say very terrible things about my brother and his lifestyle and things like that.
“So I want to make it clear that they were they are not his friends then they weren't Davion’s best friends. They were acquaintances.”
She then appeared to imply that Rosie and/or Bubba suggested that Dominic was a drug dealer, adding: “They are Kenzie's friends trying to make my brother look bad, those are her best friends.
“They just put my brother down and that's where I draw the line, my brother's not here anymore. So now I'm going to defend him. So I just want to let the world know that they are liars.”
Christine Russo reveals shocking Natalie Shirilla lie told after the crash
In the early days after the crash, it was widely believed that this was a tragic accident – not the murder it turned out to be.
Christine revealed however that, in the days after the crash, Dominic’s family were led to believe by Mackenzie’s mum Natalie that she was still not conscious.
She told Webber: “She was telling me, my father, and my sister that McKenzie was unconscious, that she had not woken up. So we're sitting there praying for her, crying.
“I mean I was just as upset for her that I had lost my brother at that second. Okay. So for 3-4 days as we're praying that she wakes up from this coma.”
She stated that Natalie was going ‘on and on’ about how she was going to have to tell Mackenzie Dom’s gone and ‘praying that she wakes up’, only to find out that Mackenzie had been awake since hours after the crash.
Christine continued, saying the family figured out via social media that Mackenzie was awake, adding: “I was like why would she about this? Why won't she let her talk or why would she say she wasn't awake? Now it makes sense.”
Mackenzie Shirilla timeline
17 July 2022 - Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend Dominic Russo get into an argument. A friend allegedly overhears Shirilla tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”
31 July 2022 - Shirilla is driving Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, from Russo’s home to a friend’s house. At around 5.30am, she crashes the car into a Plidco Building in Strongsville, Ohio, travelling at 100mph without braking. Police arrive on the scene 45 minutes later. Russo and Flanagan are pronounced dead and Shirilla is transported to MetroHealth Medical Center.
August 2022 - 200 people attend a vigil for Russo and Flanagan. Shirilla remains in critical condition. When a detective visits her in hospital, she is said to be speaking a ‘unique language’ similar to pig Latin.
October 2022 - Shirilla attends a Halloween party wearing fancy dress which resembles a corpse, which Davion’s father considers in very poor taste. He says in Netflix’s The Crash: “Dressing up as corpses three months after she killed two people, it just sickened us to the very core.”
4 November 2022 - Shirilla is arrested and faces 18 charges, including two counts of aggravated murder. She also faces charges for allegedly breaking into the Columbia Church of God in Columbia Station days before the crash, along with drug possession charges.
7 August 2023 - Shirilla’s trial begins. Her defence team argue she may have passed out at the time of the crash due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), but no medical records or expert testimony confirms the diagnosis.
14 August 2023 - Shirilla is found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo calls her ‘hell on wheels’, and the court concludes she intentionally crashed the car in a premeditated act.
23 August 2023 - Shirilla is sentenced to two concurrent 15 years to life sentences. Her legal team later lose an appeal and relief petition. She remains incarcerated in the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
22 May 2025 - Shirilla’s parents insist that she’s innocent. Her father Steve tells WKYC: “Show me one piece of evidence - one - that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me, then she's right where she belongs and she's guilty of it. But there isn't any.” Her mother Natalie claims there are texts in which Shirilla says Russo was ‘trying to end her life’.
15 May 2026 - Netflix’s The Crash premieres. In it, Shirilla insists she is ‘not a murderer’ and has no memory of the crash, continuing to blame POTS.
18 May 2026 - Steve Shirilla is placed on administrative leave from his job as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland following allegations he had ‘demonstrated poor judgement’. Viewers of Netflix’s documentary objected to his attitude towards Shirilla’s marijuana use and his dismissal of claims she told a classmate to end their life.
September 2037 - This is when Shirilla will be eligible for parole
Topics: Netflix, Mackenzie Shirilla, True Crime, TV and Film, Documentaries
Michael Slavin