STRONGSVILLE, OH - Bodycam footage of the aftermath of Mackenzie Shirilla's 2018 crash has been released, revealing that what seemed like a tragic accident, possibly triggered by substance use or a medical episode, may actually have been deliberately done.
Shirilla was 17 when she sped to nearly 100 miles per hour in her 2018 Toyota Camry, crashing into a building and killing her boyfriend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo and friend, 19-year-old Davion Flanagan, PEOPLE reported. She was arrested in November 2022 and charged with two counts each of murder and aggravated vehicular assault as well as several other counts.
Shirilla was convicted of murdering both Russo and Flanagan, with the judge in her case calling her "literal hell on wheels" and handing down two concurrent 15 year to life sentences.
Bodycam footage released after trial indicates even stranger aspects of the case, including her erratic behavior. Officers called the wreck "the worst [they've] ever seen." When they arrived on scene, officers raced to smash the Camry's windows to retrieve Shirilla and one other occupant from the vehicle, not realizing a third person was inside.
"Oh my God," an officer cried out in the bodycam footage. "Oh my God. Times three guys ... This is bad, guys." Shirilla was wedged under the dashboard and had to be extracted from the car with a tool regularly called the jaws of life. A helicopter then rushed her to the hospital.
One officer looked in to the vehicle at Russo and Flanagan's bodies and said, "Rest in peace, buddy ... This is gonna just be a nightmare of a day for this whole department."
When Shirilla was arrested on November 7, 2022, and told she was being charged with two counts of aggravated murder, she had. a blank expression. When police began switching her handcuffs, however, Shirilla pouted and asked an officer, "Could you please be careful taking this one off so it doesn't break the bracelet?"
When she arrived at the police station for booking, she cried when officers told her to remove her jewelry, most of which, including her bracelets, were allegedly gifts from Russo, her long-time boyfriend.
When an officer went to the hospital to inform Shirilla's parents that Russo died in the accident, he openly dreaded giving them the news, muttering, "God, help me," as he approached the waiting area.
At the time, Shirilla's parents only knew she'd been in a serious accident, but were not aware that anyone else was in the car with her when it happened.
Her father, Steve, clutched his heart as the officer told them two passengers had died. When he confirmed one of them was likely Russo, Shirilla's mother, Natalie covered her face in shock and Steve doubled over, gasping.
Steve immediately began weeping, while Natalie struggled to process what she just heard, asking repeatedly, "Dom is dead ... Dom with the curly hair? It could be a different Dom."
When police first questioned Shirilla in the hospital after the crash, she spoke in what Assistant Professor Tim Troup called a "unique language," comparable to pig latin. In a recording, Detective Zaki Hazou informed Shirilla and her mother that they're investigating her for two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Shirilla responded in her quasi-jibberish asking Natalie if they can tell police she had a seizure before the crash. She then asked Hazou directly, "Can't you just take my license away for like, 10 years?"
Two of Flanagan's friends spoke with police in footage seen in The Crash, the Netflix documentary on the incident, and provided data from their Life360 app, which tracked Flanagan's location. The friends explained that Flanagan, Russo and Shirilla went to a "small gathering or party" before the crash.
The app also showed that Flanagan was on his phone at 5:35 a.m., just one minute before the Camry hit the brick wall. The data also showed that Shirilla's car didn't stop until impact.
Flanagan's friends also said the group may have used psychedelic mushrooms before the crash; tests showed that Shirilla had THC in her system, but no psilocybin.
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