Disturbing Mackenzie Shirilla recording that 'proved' murder was intentional has just been released
Police have released a massive file of documents related to the Mackenzie Shirilla case, and it includes a crucial video which turned the investigation into her 100mph crash on its head.
The death of Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan in the crash has received majorly renewed interest due to Netflix’s new true crime documentary, The Crash.
It has had several major knock-on effects, with police releasing a statement about her family’s call for a review into the case, and Dominic’s sister Christine Russo making a petition for ‘Dom and Davion's law’ which has received over 86,000 signatures in under a week.
Now, the latest update has come in the form of a huge file of documents released by Strongsville police along with their statement where the local prosecutor said that ‘without question… Mackenzie Shirilla is guilty of murder’.
What is in the Mackenzie Shirilla files released by Strongsville PD?
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The files contain 1000s of documents, ranging from mundane to shocking. These include numerous text messages between Mackenzie and Dominic’s older sister Christine where they are shown checking in on one another after the crash.
Christine has stated that Mackenzie’s family actually lied to her in the aftermath of the crash, claiming that she had been unconscious for 3-4 days when she had been awake the whole time, however she continued to support Mackenzie until it became clear that the crash was intentional.
The files also include the forensic reports of the car, surveillance footage of the crash itself, toxicology reports, as well as the full PowerPoint the prosecution presented in court.
In addition to this there are several videos, including one found on a phone from days before the crash which became a major part of the prosecution’s case.
Video footage shows Mackenzie threatening Dominic outside his home days before the crash
Christine Russo, Dominic’s mother who shares the same name as his sister, provided video footage to the police of Mackenzie threatening Dominic and being verbally abusive towards him when he locked her out of his house.
Speaking in The Crash, lead prosecutor Tim Troup said: “Christine Russo had brought to the investigators attention some recordings made by Dominic just a matter of days before the crash.”
Clips of this were shown in court and in the Netflix documentary, but in the file two separate videos are released, with one being six minutes long and another being two and a half minutes long.
Mackenzie is shown insisting Dominic open the door for her, saying there will be a ‘serious f*cking problem’ if he doesn’t. She goes on to threaten to break down the door and claims to have broken off the lock, calling him a ‘little f*cking b*tch’, and threatening to break up with him if he hangs up on her to speak to his mum.
Warning: The following clip contains emotional and verbal abuse.
Dominic’s sister Christine says in the documentary upon finding the clip: “I was just disgusted and it made me really mad.
“When that came out there was no hiding who you were anymore, it just all painted a huge picture, she actually intentionally murdered him.”
Davion’s father in The Crash says that, when the clip was shown in court you could sense ‘a mood’.
He continued: “It was as if people were coming to the realisation that she could actually do it, she was volatile enough, and angry enough, and desperate enough to do anything.”
In the powerpoint included in the files it includes Dominic's brother, Angelo Russo, stating that he thought the relationship between the two was 'toxic', and that Dom wanted out. This is corroborated by text messages between the two which showed him trying to break up with Mackenzie multiple times in the lead up to the crash.
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: Mackenzie Shirilla, Netflix, True Crime, TV and Film, Documentaries
Michael Slavin