Everything revealed in newly released Mackenzie Shirilla files featuring 1,000s of documents proving her guilt
The case of Mackenzie Shirilla has seen massively renewed interest off the back of the controversial Netflix doc The Crash, and now local police have released files which have 1,000s of documents which they used to prove her guilt in court.
The local prosecutor’s office that got Mackenzie convicted for two counts of murder yesterday released a statement after the Shirilla family repeatedly claimed they would be appealing the conviction.
This stated that they believed ‘without question that Mackenzie Shirilla is guilty of murder ‘, and the local Strongsville PD have also released files related to the case which includes a disturbing recording of Mackenzie threatening Dominic just days before the crash.
Whilst Netflix’s The Crash has increased the interest in Mackenzie’s case massively, it has been criticised for missing out crucial details – many of which are included in the newly released files.
Mackenzie’s relationship with Christine Russo post-crash is made clear by 100s of texts
Mackenzie’s crash killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan, but Dom’s older sister Christine did not realise that Mackenzie had likely intentionally crashed her car until months later.
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The text messages between the pair show them leaning on each other for support from one another, including several texts of Mackenzie begging to be allowed into Dominic’s flat to pick up photos of him.
Christine’s poor mental health is clear, on multiple occasions describing the horror of losing her little brother in the crash.
Phone calls with the mother of Mackenzie’s ex-boyfriend and the 911 call following the crash
The files include multiple recordings of phone calls, including a mother who called police to provide information which helped find Mackenzie guilty.
Deanna Fausnight, the mother of David Proctor, is recorded talking with police about how David dated Mackenzie in the 10th and 11th grade, with Deanna stating the relationship worried her and she found it ‘toxic’. Deanna said it was concerning that she was allowed to do ‘whatever she wanted’ and that her parents didn’t care where David was or whether Mackenzie was drinking, doing drugs, or smoking. She also stated that Mackenzie and David argued constantly and that she ‘bounced’ between three boyfriends, which caused arguments and was ‘not healthy’.
David ended up becoming a witness who provided Davion’s Life360 information which ultimately helped them discover the speed at which Mackenzie was driving and route she took.
The 911 call is also included, showing that the scene of the crash was found by a motorbike rider who said that a car had been slammed into a wall.
A phone call with a police sergeant debunks a viral YouTube claim that Mackenzie’s dad admitted she did it on purpose
TikTok and YouTube have been awash with true crime channels claiming to show a legal document which wasn’t included in the documentary or the prosecutor’s case. This document claimed that a police officer, Sergeant Adam Doyle, claimed that Steve Shirilla told him that he was concerned about Mackenzie because she had intentionally crashed her car and killed Davion and Dominic.
This was not included in the documentary or the case however, it turns out, because it isn’t true. One call between the officer and detectives see them question him about internal claims that Steve Shirilla had told him this.
Sergeant Doyle pushes back against this in the call, claiming that this was a misunderstanding and that Mackenzie’s father simply asked for a psychological evaluation because his daughter was devastated after waking up.
Texts between Dominic and Mackenzie, toxicology and forensic reports, and the powerpoint used by prosecutors in court
Texts between Dominic and Mackenzie had previously been released in a 10,000+ page document, but this file contains some of the ones found most relevant by investigators.
This includes text messages where Dominic and Mackenzie argue, including one where he texted her: “U threaten to end my life all the time.”
The document is also incredibly thorough in including Mackenzie’s toxicology reports and the forensic analysis of her car.
This found that, whilst there was THC in her system, she was not drunk and had not taken the mushrooms found in her car.
In addition to this it provides a more detailed analysis of her car and the proof that she was pressing the accelerator at 100% and made no attempt to break, as well as clear proof from the trajectory of the car that she veered off the road rather than hitting the kerb.
They also include the PowerPoint used by lead prosecutor Tim Troup in the trial, which summarises the prosecutions case quite well.
The PowerPoint lays out Troup’s case for her guilt, including a quite intstructive final slide which summarises things effectively. This points to four key aspects: There was nothing mechanically wrong with her car, nothing medically wrong with Mackenzie, she was not operating the vehicle under the influence, and pointed to proof that showed it was an intentional act.
This stated that they had multiple break-ups the year of the crash, the Russo family had said their relationship was deteriorating, the incident previously heavily reported in which she tried to crash a car with Dom in it after an argument, and Deanna Fausnight provided ‘information about previous threats’.
The full files can be found here.
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