May 25, 2026

Hell On Wheels: Makenzie Shirilla’s 100 MPH Murder

Hell On Wheels: Makenzie Shirilla’s 100 MPH Murder
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Season 1

In the early morning hours of July 31, 2022, 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla was behind the wheel of her Toyota Camry, driving her 20-year-old boyfriend Dominic Russo and their 19-year-old friend Davion Flanagan home from a high school graduation party in Strongsville, Ohio.

What should have been a short, familiar ride ended in horror when the car suddenly accelerated to nearly 100 miles per hour, blew through a stop sign, and slammed head-on into a brick building. Dominic and Davion were killed on impact. Mackenzie was the sole survivor.

At first, it looked like a devastating accident. But investigators quickly uncovered evidence that told a far darker story: black box data showed the accelerator pinned to the floor with no braking attempts, and the crash appeared deliberate and controlled. Prosecutors charged Mackenzie with murder, alleging the crash was intentional—possibly tied to a troubled relationship. Her defense insisted it was a tragic medical emergency or sudden loss of control, and Mackenzie has maintained she has no memory of the moments leading up to the impact.

In this episode, Jim breaks down the evidence, the bench trial that shocked Ohio, the family’s ongoing claims of innocence, and the controversial conviction that sent the teenager to prison for life with the possibility of parole after 15 years. Was it cold-blooded murder or a heartbreaking accident?

Timestamps
00:30 Small-Town Roots
07:38 A Toxic Teen Romance
11:03 Breakups Turn Volatile
17:06 The Final Drive
25:10 Murder Trial Begins
29:55 Verdict and Sentence
32:03 Appeals and Aftermath

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WEBVTT

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Hey everyone, welcome back to Exposed. I'm your host, Jim Chapman,

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and today I have a podcast for you that you

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may think you are already familiar with. Netflix's top documentary

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as of this recording is titled The Crash, and it

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tells the horrific story of a crash that claimed the

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lives of two young males in the eventual conviction of

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a young lady by the name of Mackenzie Shirilla. Now,

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much like many of you may have, I watched it,

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but I was already familiar with this case. I had

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this one in the files waiting to be recorded, and

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when I watched this documentary, much like documentaries, they leave

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a lot of things out as it relates to the details.

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This case would be no different. So I decided to

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go ahead and record this one. And I do need

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to say, hey, Netflix did a great job with it.

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They just didn't cover everything and they didn't go in

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depth on some things that I felt like they should have.

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So with that, I'm going to give you the story

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as I wrote it, and I'm going to give you

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my opinions on the verdicts and all of that stuff.

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So let's get into it and I'm going to take

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you to Strongsville, Ohio, which is a quiet, tight knit

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Cleveland suburb where people still get waved at on their

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front porch. Friday night football is basically a religion. It

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is typical small town America. Now in a middle class

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home on one of those tree lined streets, in August

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of two thousand and four, Natalie and Steve Sirilla. They

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welcome their second choin, a baby girl they named Mackenzie,

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and she arrives healthy, loud, full of life, and big

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sister Daniella is there to help welcome her, and from

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day one the Sherilla house it feels like the kind

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of place she would see in every classic American coming

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of age story. Her dad, Steve, he is an art

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and digital media teacher, and he filled the home with

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the creativity that you would expect from someone like that

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and the color that you would expect from an artist.

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And Natalie, she would create that steady heartbeat of family life.

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Barbecues in the backyard, school plays, weekend bike rides around

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the neighborhood, the shrillas. They wanted to give their daughters

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the kind of stable, loving upbringing that most parents would

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dream of. Providing in Strongville itself. It was the perfect backdrop.

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Good schools, safe streets, a real sense of community in

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the area. Kind of reminds me of where I live

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and kids that grew up knowing their neighbors. Kids would

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go to the same high schools their parents had attended,

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and Mackenzie was right at home in that world. Family

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and friends would later describe her as outgoing, athletic and

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socially magnetic, the kind of girl who makes friends easily,

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laughs loud, and throws herself into whatever activity may be

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happening at the time. No major red flags, no dramatic trauma,

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just a normal Ohio kid navigating the ordinary ups and

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downs of childhood. Now by elementary school, Mackenzie was growing

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into the kind of girl you'd see at Eddie School carnival,

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every soccer game, every neighborhood block party. She was protective

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of her friends wall to a fault, already showing a

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strong willed streak that her parents would sometimes laugh about.

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Steve would later say she had big dreams even as

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a kid. He said, she was always creating, always performing,

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always imagining a bigger stage for herself. And Natalie made

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sure the girls had structure, homework, none chores, finished, family

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dinners around the table. It was a kind of upbringing that,

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at least on paper, should have produced a well adjusted

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teenager with a bright future, And for a while, that's

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exactly what it looked like. Mackenzie moved through middle school

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the same way most kids in Strongsville did, making friends,

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joining activities, posting silly selfies. As social media started to

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creep into her world and the world and she was

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part of the same large, overlapping friend group that included

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a boy named Dominique Russo. Now they knew each other

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the way everyone in a suburb that sized as each other.

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Same hallways, same football games, same summer hangout. It's nothing dramatic,

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just two kids from the same zip code whose paths

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kept crossing, although Dominique was three years older than she

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was now. On the surface, Mackenzie Shrilla's early life looked

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textbook normal, loving parents seen, stable home, no criminal record,

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no history of violence or serious behavior issues, and psychologists

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who study these cases they often point out something important.

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Sometimes the most dangerous storms start in the comma's waters,

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because even in the most ordinary households and childhoods, certain

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personality traits can quietly take rout, and Mackenzie was described

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as someone who felt things deeply loyalty that bordered on intensity,

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emotions that would run hot, a need for connection that

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could feel all consuming, and in a small town where

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everyone knows everyone, those traits might look like passion or devotion.

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But when you mix that with teenage hormones, first loves,

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pressure to keep a relationship alive at all costs, those

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traits can lead to something much more volatile. So Steve

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and Natalie Shirolla they raised their daughter with the same

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hopes every parents have. She would graduate, chase her dreams,

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maybe become that social media influencer she had always talked about,

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find someone who loved her the way that she loved.

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They had no way of knowing that one of those

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neighborhood kids, Dominique Russo, would later become the center of

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her world in a way that would ultimately change everything.

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So for now, just kind of sit there with this image,

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a bright eyed little girl on a bike in the

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streets of Strongville, wind in her hair, laughing with the

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kids she grew up with, completely unaware that the ordinary

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life she was living was quietly setting the stage for

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something no one in that tech knick community could have imagined.

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That girl didn't become hell on wheels overnight, but every

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friendship formed, every emotion felt deeply, every bond she refused

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to let go of. Those moments were stacking up like kindling,

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and the match was waiting just a few years down

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the road. So by middle school, that ordinary Ohio girl,

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she was already forming the bond that would define her

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teen years and ultimately lead to tragedy. And let's go

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to Strongsville High School in the early twenty tens, the

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kind of high school where Friday night lights still ruled,

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everyone knew everyone else's business, and Mackenzie Shirilla. She walked

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those hallways the way many teens from that area did, confident, social,

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surrounded by a big, overlapping circle of She was popular

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without trying too hard. She was athletic, quick with a smile,

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and like many of the teens from that era, she

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was a girl who posted fun Snapchat stories and showed

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up to every football game. Teachers would remember her as

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engaged no major disciplinary problems, just to another face in

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the yearbook, smiling beside the marching band or the soccer team.

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But underneath that normal teenage spirit, something deeper was taken root.

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So around age thirteen, that's when Mackenzie's path crossed more

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seriously with that boy three years older, Dominique Russo. He

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was sixteen at this time, already driving, already part of

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that same extended friend group, that hung out at the

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same parties, the same bonfires, and that relationship quickly became intense.

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They were on again, off again from the very beginning.

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They break up over some teamage draw, swear it was over,

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then find their way back to each other within days

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or weeks. Friends would later describe it as the classic

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high school roller coaster. Passionate, dramatic, and impossible to ignore.

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And I would imagine we've all been there, right, your

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first teenage crush. You swear it's love, but you're young,

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and you don't realize until you're much older that you

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have no idea how to deal with the emotions actually

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involved in that. That's where she and Dominique were at now.

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By the time Mackenzie was fifteen Dominique was eighteen, the

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relationship had become the center of her world. They spent

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nearly every free moment together when they fought and they

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fought often the makeups were just as explosive. Dominique's family

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would later tell investigators about the constant cycle, screaming matches

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in the driveway doors, slamming Mackenzie, begging him not to leave, Dominique,

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trying to create space. Mackenzie, by all accounts, felt things

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with a depth that was absolutely overwhelming her. She didn't

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just like Dominique, she needed him in a way that

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blurred the line between love and the fear of being alone.

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Jim, did you see what happened in Texas today?

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Wait before you tell me that, let me tell you

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what happened in New York.

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It cannot be as crazy as the case I told

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you about yesterday in Louisiana.

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You know what, we should do a podcast about it, And.

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With that we did. Crime War Weekly covers the crime

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news headlines that have dominated the week.

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We cover trending crimes from all over the country and

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even sprinkle in a few globally.

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Crime War Weekly is available now wherever you listen to

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your podcasts.

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Simply by searching Crime War Weekly or clicking the link

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in the description of this podcast. Court testimony would later

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reveal text and messages showing her panic during breakups. Please

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don't leave me. I can't do this without you. You're

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my everything. And Dominique he was caught between ten age

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independence and her intensity, and he would pull away, only

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to be drawn back by the same magnetic pull. Now,

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keep in mind, Dominique was much older. Doesn't sound like

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three years is a whole lot older, But you have

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to think about it this way. Eighteen and fifteen or

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two totally different worlds, right, he was much more mature.

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And there were recordings of one particular fight they had

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that Netflix. If you watch that series, they played it

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on that series where you can really get a good

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sense of that. Mackenzie shows up at a door, she's pissed,

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she's making threats to end the relationship if Dominique doesn't

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answer that door. And his response was, I'm not letting

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you in my house if we're arguing like this. And

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that is the difference, y'all. That's the difference right there

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between eighteen and fifteen. And I feel like it's an

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important aspect of what is going to occur later. So

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in twenty twenty one, when Mackenzie was still seventeen and

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technically a minor, the two took a step most parents' dread.

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They move in together, and it wasn't some glamorous apartment.

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It was a modest place in the Strongsville area, and

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it had a bit of a chaotic energy that you

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may expect from two young people playing house before they

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were really ready, Natalie and Steve Shrilla. They had their concerns,

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but like many parents facing a headstrong team in love,

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they tried to support her while keeping an eye on things. Now,

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I would like to say, that's not what I would

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have done, and I'm pretty confident that's not what I

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would have done, But I gotta be honest. I've never

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been in that situation with my girls, and thankfully they're

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all adults now on my children. But I have two

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girls and I've never thankfully been in that position, So

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I'm not trying to judge them on that. So what

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her parents couldn't see, really, what no one outside of

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the relationship could fully see, was how the volatility was

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quietly escalating. Arguments would grow louder claims of mutual pushing

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and shoffing with surface later in police reports. Dominique's family

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would describe Mackenzie as controlling, jealous, terrified of abandonment. Mackenzie's

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side would paint Dominique as distant, pulling away, making her

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feel worthless. And the truth, as it so often is

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in these toxic teen romances, probably live somewhere in the middle.

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Two young people who cared deeply, but they had no

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tool rules to handle that fire that they had lit.

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Although I will say of the two, Dominique seemed much

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more mature, which he's three years older, he should be

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more mature, and it makes sense so at this point

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the social circle around them is also widening. Mackenzie and

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Dominique were rarely alone. Their group included Davion Flanagan, who

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was a fun loving nineteen year old teenager who became

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one of Dominique's closest friends. And Davion was kind of

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the life of the party, very outgoing, always cracking jokes,

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athletic guy, the guy who kept the vibe light when

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things would get heavy, and the three of them in

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a rotating cast of other friends. They would party together

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regularly in marijuana and shrooms were part of that scene.

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They'd hang out, they'd smoke weed occasionally, a psychedelic taught fight,

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make up, repeat the cycle, not a good recipe though

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right now. What almost no one realized at the time

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was that Mackenzie also developed a pattern behind the wheel.

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Court records would later reveal black box data from her

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twenty eighteen Tota camery showing multiple high speed drives on

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the very same roads around Strongsville, including Progress Drive, which

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is the stretch that would become infamous. She liked the thrill,

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friends would say. Friends would also describe her as quote

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Hell on wheels long before the tragedy, a nickname that

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started as a joke about her lead foot driving but

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carried a darker edge as her relationship strained. Now. Dominiqua

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tried to break things off more than once in the

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final months. He was talking about moving on. He was

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talking about needing more space, about a future that didn't

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include constant drama, and Mackenzie. She sensed the end and

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grew more desperate, more possessive, more determined to keep him close.

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So imagine this late nights in that shared apartment, the

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air kind of thick, with the smell of weed and

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unspoken tension. Mackenzie scrawling through old photos of the two

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of them on her cellphone, her heart racing every time

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dominiques phone with buzz with the text from someone else,

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and Dominique sitting there trying to breathe, trying to step back,

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only to be pulled back into the same embrace. The

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push and pull of first love at its most extreme,

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the kind of intensity that feels romantic in movies but

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becomes suffocating in real life. Teenagers don't have the life

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experience to recognize when passion crosses into obsession. They don't

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know the fear of losing someone can at the wrong moment,

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turn into something much more destructive. One more fight, one

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more tearful reconciliation, one more promise that this time it's

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going to be different. That's how the final chapter began

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with these two. By the summer of twenty twenty two,

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Mackenzie seventeen, Dominique was twenty, and their four year on

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and off saga had reached an absolute breaking point. The

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group was still partying, they were still smoking marijuana, still

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acting like the future with something that happened to other people,

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but the clock was ticking down. On the morning of

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July thirty first, and on that morning, July thirty first,

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twenty twenty two, that volatile teen love story reached its

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horrific climax. The drive began as a ride home that

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would end in the two deaths of young men in

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a murder charge for Mackenzie. It was just after five

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am a party in Strongsville was finally aver Mackenzie, at

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this time seventeen years old, behind the wheel of that

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twenty eighteen Toyota Camery. In the passenger seat sat her

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boyfriend of four years, Dominique Russo, twenty years old, and

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in the backseat close friend Davion Flanagan, who was nineteen.

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At this time, The trio had been gathering for hours.

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Witnesses would later describe the night as typical for their groups,

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smoking weed, talking, the usual mix of flirting and bickering.

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Mackenzie and Dominique had been in one of their classic cycles, fighting,

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making up, fighting again. Dominique had been pulling away more

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and more in the recent weeks. He wanted space, he

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was talking about moving on, and Mackenzie, terrified of losing

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him for good, had been holding on tighter than ever.

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That morning, the three of them climbed into that Toyota

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Camery for what should have been a short, familiar drive home.

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Mackenzie pulled out of the driveway, turned on the quiet

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suburban streets, and everything seemed normal. At first. You can

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see the vehicle turn make a controlled right turn onto

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progress drive a straight industrial road lined with warehouses and businesses.

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Now the speed limit was thirty five miles per hour,

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and for the first few seconds she stayed close to that.

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Then in one terrifying instant, everything changed. The black box

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requarter inside of that Camry provided the data in chilling

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00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:40.640
precise detail. At five seventeen am, Mackenzie preuss accelerator to

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00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:44.720
the floor, the engine roared. The Camray surged from thirty

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five miles per hour to ninety eight miles per hour

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in under six seconds. No break lights, no swerving to

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avoid anything. The steering wheel inputs were steady and deliberate

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00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:03.000
and aimed at a large brick building that sat at

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the end of the road like a wall. Stop signs

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00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:09.519
would flash by in a blur. A business sign shattered

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upon impact, and then the crash. The Toyota Camery slammed

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00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.599
into a solid brick wall at nearly one hundred miles

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00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:24.000
per hour. The front end crumpled like paper. Air bags exploded,

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glass and metal flew in every single direction. Dominique Russo

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in the passenger seat, took the full force of the impact.

295
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Davon Flannagan in the back he never had a chance.

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Both young men were pronounced dead at the scene, and

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00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:46.440
Mackenzie Shrilla, the driver. She was critically injured but alive.

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When first responders arrived, they found something eerily symbolic. One

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of Mackenzie's fuzzy Prada slippers had come off her foot

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00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:00.480
and was wedged firmly against that accelerator pedal, exactly where

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00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:03.680
it would have been if she deliberately kept her foot

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00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:06.920
pressed down instead of trying to break. In the hours

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00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:11.200
that followed, the Strongsville community they wake up to this horror.

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Two beloved local boys gone in an instant. Dominique Garuso,

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00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:20.799
twenty year old who loved music, basketball, in making people laugh.

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00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:24.839
He had dreams of the future, beyond the drama, beyond

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00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.720
the fighting. Davean Flanagan, the nineteen year old jokester who

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00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:32.599
lit up every room. He walked into the friend who

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00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:37.960
always had your back. Their families were shattered. Mackenzie was

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00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:42.799
rushed to the hospital serious injuries. At first, many assumed

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00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:46.279
this was a tragic accident. Maybe she was a tired team,

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maybe she was impaired by the marijuana, but the black

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00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.759
box data would eventually tell a different story. Full throttle,

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00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:59.799
no breaking steering inputs experts would later describe as consistent

315
00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.799
with someone aiming the car like a weapon. Toxicology reports

316
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:08.599
confirmed marijuana in Mackenzie's system, but none at the levels

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00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.359
that would explain away the deliberate acceleration. This girl was

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00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:17.160
used to smoking weed and if anything that would cause deceleration,

319
00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:21.680
not acceleration. Prosecutors would later argue this was no accident,

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this was a mission of death. They painted a picture

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00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:29.279
of a young woman consumed by fear of abandonment who

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saw the final breakup coming and decided if she couldn't

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have Dominique, no one would. The hell on Wheel's nickname

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00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.400
that her friends had once used as a joke about

325
00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:46.920
her driving fast, suddenly took on a darker, more literal meaning.

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Court documents would reveal a pattern. Mackenzie had driven the

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same stretch of progress drive at high speeds before she

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00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:59.720
knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going.

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00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:03.759
When she floored it. The defense, they would push back hard.

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They argued it was a horrible impulsive accident, possibly worsened

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by disorientation from drugs or the emotional turmoil from the

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night Mackenzie had been through a violatile relationship. Maybe in

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that split second she panicked or lost control. They pointed

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00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:24.440
to her own injuries, her survival, the fact that no

335
00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:28.839
one had ever seen her violent before, But the evidence

336
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:34.799
was overwhelming. The black box told the story in cold,

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00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:39.359
undeniable numbers. The slipper on the gas pedal, the lack

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00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:43.240
of any attempt to steerway or break, the history of

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00:23:43.319 --> 00:23:47.640
high speed driving on that exact same road, and the

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00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:53.160
moss of testimony about the toxic pushing pool between Mackenzie

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00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:57.920
and Dominique. The texts, the fights, the desperation. It all

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00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:03.519
pointed to one horrific conclusion. This was not just speeding.

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00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:07.799
This was intentional. A seventeen year old girl had used

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a vehicle as a weapon in the ultimate act of

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00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:14.880
If I can't have you, no one can now. Teenage

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00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:18.200
love can be intense, we all know that. But when

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the intensity mixes with drugs, with a history of volatility,

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00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:26.880
with a car capable of one hundred miles per hour,

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00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:32.759
the results they can be catastrophic. Mackenzie Shirilla. She didn't

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00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:36.240
set out that night planning to become a headline, but

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00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:41.160
in those few terrifying seconds on Progress Drive, she crossed

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00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:45.519
the line that you can't uncross. Two young men who

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still had their whole lives ahead of them were gone,

354
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a community was left reeling, and a seventeen year old

355
00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:57.160
girl went from being the survivor of a crash to

356
00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:01.880
the accused driver in a murder trial. So at this point,

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00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:05.440
these two young men are gone in the nation watch

358
00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:08.680
as a seventeen year old girl, she did go from

359
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:13.079
victim to accused murderer. Now the court room would decide

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00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:16.920
her fate. The arrest came fast. Mackenzie Shirolla was taken

361
00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:21.559
into custody upon her recovery and was being tried as

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00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.599
an adult, and by the time the indictment dropped it

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00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:28.599
was staggering twelve separate counts, four counts of murder, four

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00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:33.240
counts of fellonous assault, two counts of aggravative vehicular homicide,

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plus drug possession and possessing criminal tools. The Fazzi Prada

366
00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:42.480
slipper that had been wedged on that accelerator was now

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00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:46.720
logged into evidence as Exhibit one. Mackenzie would appear in

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00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:50.519
court looking small and shaken. The same girl who once

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00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:55.880
posted carefree selfies from Strongsville parties was now wearing an

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00:25:55.880 --> 00:26:00.400
orange jumpsuit and staring at the floor. Her parents and

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00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:04.480
Steve sat behind her every single day, their faces etched

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00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:09.960
with disbelief in grief. Dominique Russo and Davion Flanagan families

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00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:12.400
sat on the other side of the aisle, their pain

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00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:16.799
raw and unrelenting. The divide in that courtroom was as

375
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:20.799
wide as the brick wall on Progress Drive. There's no

376
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.680
doubt about it. The case moved to a bench trial

377
00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:28.359
in twenty twenty three. No Jerry, just Judge Nancy Margaret

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00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:32.599
Russo presiding in court. And this is my first issue.

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00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:35.759
I think this was a horrible decision for the defense.

380
00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:38.200
I mean, it's a heck of a lot easier to

381
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:42.279
convince one of twelve people of your innocence than one

382
00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:46.079
of one. It was just a really bizarre decision to me.

383
00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:50.279
A lot of people speculate out there that Mackenzie thought

384
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:53.440
it would be easier to manipulate one person, that being

385
00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:56.839
the judge, than twelve people, but the odds were not

386
00:26:56.920 --> 00:26:59.960
in her favor. There's no doubt about that in my opinion.

387
00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:03.440
So from the opening statements it was clear this would

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00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:08.559
be a battle of narratives. Prosecutor Brian McDonagh laid out

389
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:13.000
the state's theory with cold precision. This was not an accident.

390
00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:17.039
This was a deliberate mission of death. He walked the

391
00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:20.319
court through the black box data, second by second, the

392
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:25.279
control turned, the sudden, full throttle acceleration, the complete absence

393
00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:29.319
of breaking, the steering inputs that aimed that camera like

394
00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:33.440
a missile. Relationship. Witnesses would take the stand and describe

395
00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:38.480
the toxic four year roller coaster relationship, the desperate texts,

396
00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:42.039
the fear of abandonment, the fights that had escalated right

397
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:44.920
up to that final night. If I can't have you,

398
00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:50.480
no one will, the prosecution argued, was the unspoken motive

399
00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:53.720
that turned this cord into a weapon. In the defense,

400
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:56.880
led by Attorney John Parker, they fought back with the

401
00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:01.519
equal passion. They called it a tragic impulse accident, sleep

402
00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:06.039
deprived teenager reacting in the worst possible way after a

403
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:10.839
night of partying. They highlighted McKenzie's own serious injuries, and

404
00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:13.279
they said this was a horrible mistake by a young

405
00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:18.000
woman who never intended to kill anyone. This was not murder.

406
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:21.920
So I have a lot of issues with that, primarily

407
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.279
the evidence doesn't support it. The black box, to me,

408
00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:29.599
is the key to this whole freaking case. Keeping your

409
00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:32.880
foot on the gas pedal is not as easy as

410
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:35.960
it sounds. If you're out of it or if you're

411
00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:40.079
sleep deprived. To reach that speed, you have to floor it,

412
00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:44.200
and the pedal is essentially fighting against you. That dog

413
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:48.480
just don't hunt as far as the street. She's very

414
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:53.559
familiar with it. She had traveled that road several times

415
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:58.640
in the preceding days. And lastly, that black box showed

416
00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:05.400
intentional navigation steering will in turn like she was fighting

417
00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:08.920
someone for control of the car, and that is a fact.

418
00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:12.279
So the trial stretches through the summer of twenty twenty three.

419
00:29:12.359 --> 00:29:16.599
Day after day, that courtroom filled with families, reporters, curious

420
00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:20.039
locals from the area who couldn't believe that one of

421
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:22.359
their own was in the center of all of this,

422
00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:26.960
and Mackenzie she sat mostly silent. She would occasionally wipe

423
00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:31.720
away tears. Her parents would maintain her innocence publicly. They

424
00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:35.440
would launch a website, social media campaign and they would

425
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.759
insist this crash was a terrible accident and that their

426
00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:42.680
daughter deserved a new trial. Dominique and Davion's families, they

427
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.880
would speak powerfully about the futures that were stolen from

428
00:29:46.920 --> 00:29:51.400
their sons, Dominique's love of music and basketball, Davion's laughter

429
00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:54.079
and plans to build a life. The paint in that

430
00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:58.960
room was obvious, and on August fourteenth of twenty twenty three,

431
00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:03.400
Judge Nancy Mean Margaret Russo she delivers her verdict. The

432
00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.000
courtroom falls into heavy silence as she reads the words.

433
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:11.680
Everyone had been waiting for guilty on all counts. Now

434
00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.480
in a ruling. The judge was unflinching. She called Mackenzie

435
00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:18.400
Hell on Wheels, the nickname that had once been a

436
00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.759
joke by her friends now was forever etched into the

437
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:27.720
official record. Quote this was not an accident, Judge Russo

438
00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:31.319
would say, this was not an intentional lack. You aim

439
00:30:31.400 --> 00:30:35.279
that vehicle like a weapon. The words would land like

440
00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:39.759
a hammer on a nail, and Mackenzie's shoulders would slump,

441
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.119
Her parents would gasp, and the victims' families would weep

442
00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.559
openly in both relief and sorrow. Sentencing would come one

443
00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:52.680
week later, on August twenty first of twenty twenty three.

444
00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:57.160
The courtroom was packed tighter than ever. Victim impact statements

445
00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:01.480
would fill the air with raw emotion, and Dominique's mother

446
00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:05.880
spoke of the empty chair at every family dinner. Davean's

447
00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:09.640
loved ones would describe a world without his jokes, without

448
00:31:09.640 --> 00:31:14.440
his light. Then Mackenzie stood to speak. Through tears. She

449
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:18.359
offered a heartfelt apology quote, I'm so sorry for the

450
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:21.559
pain I have caused. I never meant for this to happen.

451
00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:25.039
I loved Dominique. I would never hurt him on purpose.

452
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:30.079
Her voice would crack, but the judge will remain unmoved.

453
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:37.359
Mackenzie Shrilla received two concurrent fifteen years to life in prison.

454
00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:41.720
She received credit for time already served, Her driver's license

455
00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:45.119
was revoked for life, and as the gavel fell for

456
00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:48.880
the final time, the weight of the decision settled on

457
00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:53.000
everyone in that courtroom. A seventeen year old girl who

458
00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.599
had walked in that courtroom as a defendant would walk out,

459
00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:02.519
headed for the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. But

460
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:06.799
the story didn't end there. Appeals followed almost immediately. In

461
00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:10.799
twenty twenty four, and in twenty twenty five, Mackenzie's legal

462
00:32:10.839 --> 00:32:15.599
team challenged the conviction on multiple grounds, claims of ineffective counsel,

463
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:19.720
questions about the black box evidence, arguments that the bench

464
00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:22.680
trial should have allowed a jury. The Ohio Court of

465
00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:27.279
Appeals upheld the verdict, The Ohio Supreme Court refused to

466
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:31.440
even hear the case, and as of today, those appeals

467
00:32:31.480 --> 00:32:36.200
remain denied. Mackenzie, now in her early twenties, she continues

468
00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:40.119
to serve that sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

469
00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:44.279
Her parents, Natalie and Steve, have never stopped fighting. They

470
00:32:44.359 --> 00:32:48.279
maintained publicly their daughter is innocent, the crash was a

471
00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:52.079
tragic accident, and that she deserves a new trial, and

472
00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:55.680
they visit when they can. They post updates. They carry

473
00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:59.440
the same mix of love and grief that every parent

474
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:03.640
in their position would feel. And while I don't agree

475
00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:07.319
with them as it relates to her guilt, or even

476
00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:12.000
their parenting style for that matter, I do get why

477
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.519
they keep fighting and why they can't see what is

478
00:33:15.640 --> 00:33:20.519
painfully obvious for most of us to see. To her parents,

479
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:27.119
every horrific case in the criminal justice system, there's someone

480
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.839
there that loves that person. Jeffrey Dahmer had a daddy

481
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:35.960
who loved him period. He might have been the only one,

482
00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:38.240
but he had a daddy that loved him, and her

483
00:33:38.279 --> 00:33:41.839
parents love her, and so I understand that aspect of it,

484
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:45.880
but I think it's obviously blinding their truth a little

485
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:49.400
bit now, the russo and flaming in families. Meanwhile, they

486
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:52.880
continue to obviously live with the permanent hole left in

487
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:57.920
their lives. They advocate for stronger laws around teen dating, violence,

488
00:33:58.279 --> 00:34:01.880
impaired driving, the days of high speed vehicles in the

489
00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:07.920
hands of emotionally volatile young people. Strongsville itself still feels

490
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:11.320
the pain, a quiet suburb that learned the hard way

491
00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:16.960
how quickly normal teenage drama can turn deadly. And I

492
00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:21.599
think this case forces all of us to confront uncomfortable

493
00:34:21.719 --> 00:34:27.000
truths about teenage relationships. Look, the intensity of first love

494
00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:32.840
can feel all consuming. The fear of abandonment can cloud

495
00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:37.239
your judgment. Add drugs, lack of sleep, a vehicle, and

496
00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:44.079
the line between impulse and catastrophe can vanish in six seconds.

497
00:34:44.920 --> 00:34:49.320
Mackenzie Shirilla was not a career criminal, and in my opinion,

498
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:53.000
she was a suburban girl who acted completely in the

499
00:34:53.079 --> 00:34:57.159
moment as a result of some sort of argument that

500
00:34:57.320 --> 00:35:02.239
turned passion into a horrific tragedy that left too dead.

501
00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:06.360
My opinion, I think she flipped out in that car.

502
00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:11.119
I don't necessarily think she had any intention of living

503
00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:14.559
through that crash, and when she did, I think she

504
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:19.079
had to come up with the defense for herself. I'm

505
00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:24.320
not even completely convinced that she remembers those last minutes.

506
00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:28.079
All of that being said, my heart's thoughts and prayers

507
00:35:28.199 --> 00:35:32.639
go out completely to the family of Dominique and Davion

508
00:35:33.400 --> 00:35:37.719
into her family. I just could not imagine dealing with that.

509
00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:41.480
And there you have it. That's my thoughts. Let me

510
00:35:41.559 --> 00:35:44.480
know what yours are. Thank you so much to my

511
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:48.159
Patreon supporters. I could not do any of this without

512
00:35:48.280 --> 00:35:50.840
all of you, And if you'd like to support the

513
00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:54.880
show through Patreon, check us out patreon dot com. Slash

514
00:35:54.920 --> 00:36:00.000
Exposed podcast files for commercial free early releases, find this episode,

515
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:02.840
It's quarterly gifts all kinds of stuff on that channel

516
00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:07.320
until next time. For exposed scandalous files of the Elite.

517
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:10.320
I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,