Mackenzie Shirilla was sentenced to 15 years to life behind bars for the deadly crash, which killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan on July 31, 2022.

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — “The Crash” has been the No. 1 movie streaming on Netflix for several days since it was released Friday, capturing widespread attention nearly four years after the deadly Strongsville crash in which 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla was found guilty of murder in the deaths of 20-year-old Dominic Russo and 19-year-old Davion Flanagan.

Shirilla was ultimately sentenced to 15 years to life behind bars, with the judge describing her actions as “literal hell on wheels” when she caused the fatal incident after driving 100 mph and crashing into a building during the early morning hours on July 31, 2022.

DOMINIC’S SISTER SPEAKS OUT

Christine Russo, who is Dominic’s sister, spoke to 3News on Thursday about her thoughts and how she’s doing since the documentary was released.

“I’m staying busy, obviously,” she told 3News’ Danita Harris during the live interview, which streamed on the WKYC app. “I tend to grieve better in chaos. The second I settle down, the more I start to think about it and reality, so I just try to keep myself busy.”

When asked about her thoughts on Shirilla today, Christine made the following statement:

“I’m torn, too, sometimes I hate her and sometimes I feel bad for the entire situation. My thoughts are this never should have happened. My brother should be alive. Davion should be alive. It’s unreal that they’re gone to me, still. It’s hard because I’m so out of touch with reality. It’s hard to have such anger for her sometimes. I feel bad for the entire situation, but at the same time I know how narcists and sociopaths are — and she clearly is one of them. She’s a psychopath, a stone-cold psychopath. If you knew her and how self-absorbed she was in person and then you hear her calls now from prison, she has no remorse. She’s continuing to lie, my family just wants to know what happened in the car that day, like have some type of closure. She keeps appealing and appealing. She’s rotten to the core. Sometimes I feel bad. Sometimes I wish I didn’t hear her name anymore.”

Since the crash took place, Christine also launched her own podcast on YouTube known as Big Sister Unhinged, which she said was started “so that people can have a place to have the correct truth and correct information.”

“I started it to make sure that my brother’s legacy and reputation stay where they should be,” she explained. “I started it to talk about grief and sibling loss and domestic violence in teens. There’s so many things. I also started it to see if I could just tell people, too, there are certain things on the internet that people put out for attention that is just so cruel. Like certain videos of my stepmom or my dad finding out that Dom passed. I just wanted to spread awareness on not clicking on those things and not giving that kind of disgusting things attention. Things that shouldn’t be on the internet. Maybe spread some type of awareness to just back off of things like that because there are actually grieving families behind this entertainment that’s out there for everybody else.”

She also discussed the strong connection she has with Flanagan’s sister.

“Sister to sister, losing a sibling I can’t even explain it. … At the same time I feel really guilty because if it wasn’t for Kenzie dating Dom this wouldn’t have happened to Davion, if Davion wasn’t hanging out with my brother. So I feel super guilty, but to sit down with her, we got to get a lot of things off our chest, express stuff about the movie, some lies and some misinformation and some cast members spreading lies and things like that. It was good. It was a solid two hours. It’s going to continue. We’re gonna meet up and talk all the time. She is an amazing, beautiful girl. I love her. It was good.”

Here’s how Netflix describes the documentary:

A car carrying three young adults slams into a brick building at 100 miles per hour in Strongsville, Ohio, leaving two lives lost and one sole survivor. The driver, 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla, was driving her boyfriend, Dom, and his friend, Davion, home from a party when the unthinkable happened. But as detectives comb through the wreckage, what first appears to be a tragic accident begins to look like a calculated crime scene. “The Crash” takes a deep dive into the volatile relationship at the center, examining the shifting narratives of that fateful night to explore where a fatal mistake ends and cold-blooded murder begins.

You can watch the trailer for “The Crash” below:

In March of 2025, the Eighth District Court of Appeals upheld a previous ruling that denied Shirilla’s request for a new trial.

Two months later, 3News aired an exclusive interview with Shirilla’s parents as they insisted their daughter is innocent and the justice system failed their family.

“Show me one piece of evidence — one — that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me,” Steve Shirilla said in our May 2025 interview. “Then she’s right where she belongs and she’s guilty of it. But there isn’t any. There’s no evidence (of) what was going on in that car other than information they gleamed from the black box information.”

You can watch that report here:

It’s a case that dates back to Sunday, July 31, 2022, when Strongsville police say a crash happened at 6:15 a.m. near the intersection of Progress and Alameda. Upon their arrival, officers say they located a Toyota Camry “with severe damage and full airbag deployments.”

All three occupants inside the vehicle — including Shirilla — were unconscious, not breathing and trapped inside the vehicle. Russo (Shirilla’s boyfriend) and Flanagan were both pronounced dead at the scene.

“This was not reckless driving. This was murder,” Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo said moments before announcing her verdict in the bench trial on Aug. 14, 2023.

Shirilla, who was 17 years old at the time of the crash, was found guilty of all counts, including four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.

“She morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down the street,” Judge Russo continued while announcing her verdict. “Mackenzie alone made the decision to drive the car, to drive an obscure route, a route she visited a few days before, and a route not routinely taken by her. Mackenzie alone chose a time to make the drive, early in the morning, when any reasonable person would expect a few people would be nearby to witness it or offer life-saving assistance. She made these decisions despite knowing, as any reasonable person would, that her mission of death could’ve involved others not even in the car with her — other people, other cars, pedestrians.”

Judge Russo said Shirilla had “a mission” and “executed it with precision.”

“Mackenzie alone decided to push the pedal to the floor and demand the ultimate speed of that vehicle to 92 mph. She alone decided what was to be. Mackenzie decided death was the ultimate goal that day, and she alone made that decision for Dominic and Davion.”

The prosecution had said Shirilla crashed the car to end her toxic and tumultuous relationship with Russo.

“There is no doubt that this happened because of the relationship with Dominic and the defendant’s intent was clearly to end that, and she took everybody that was in the car with her,” said Tim Troup of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.

“To the families of Dom and Davion, I am so deeply sorry,” Shirilla said while reading a statement prior to learning her fate in the case. “I hope one day you can see how I’d never let this happen or do it on purpose. I wish I could remember what happened. I’m just so sorry. I’m heartbroken. I loved Dom and Davion. We were all friends and Dom was my soulmate. I wish I could take all your pain away. I am so sorry. And to my family, thank for the support and all the love you guys give. Thank you for fighting with me. I love you all so much.”