Mackenzie Shirilla's parents maintain her innocence as Netflix documentary debuts

Natalie and Steve Shirilla continue to insist their daughter Mackenzie is innocent, years after her conviction for a fatal 2022 crash that claimed two lives — a story now revisited in Netflix documentary The Crash, which debuted on 15 May.

What happened

In the early hours of 31 July 2022, Mackenzie Shirilla, then 17, was driving her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and friend Davion Flanagan, 19, when she accelerated her Toyota Camry to over 100 mph and crashed into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio. Russo and Flanagan were pronounced dead at the scene. Mackenzie was hospitalised with multiple bone fractures.

The car's black box recorded the accelerator at 100% with no braking in the seconds before impact. Prosecutors argued the crash was intentional, citing a volatile relationship between Mackenzie and Russo, with witnesses describing repeated arguments and Russo allegedly attempting to end the relationship multiple times.

The conviction

In March 2023, following a bench trial, Cuyahoga County Judge Nancy Margaret Russo found Mackenzie guilty on all 12 counts, including four counts of murder. She was sentenced in August 2023 to two concurrent 15-year-to-life terms. "This was not reckless driving. This was murder," the judge said.

Mackenzie, who claims she has no memory of the crash, has consistently denied being a murderer. "I'm not saying I'm innocent — I was a driver of a tragedy. But I'm not a murderer," she said in The Crash. Her defence cited a pre-existing blood pressure disorder, POTS, as a possible cause, though no medical professional was called to confirm this at trial.

Where things stand

Mackenzie is currently serving her sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Her appeal for a new trial was denied in May 2025, and her first parole hearing is not scheduled until September 2037. Families of the victims have spoken out against her eventual release.

Her parents, meanwhile, allege that critical evidence — including text messages, medical records, and expert testimony — was never presented in court. "We gave her attorney the text messages, we gave her attorney the medical records, we gave her attorney the car expert," Natalie told 3News in May 2025. "He didn't use any of it."

According to The Crash, Mackenzie and her family "continue to fight her conviction."