Ohio Teen Murdered Boyfriend, Friend By Deliberately Crashing Car At 100 Mph: ‘Literal Hell On Wheels’
An Ohio woman was found guilty of murder on Monday, charged with deliberately causing the death of her boyfriend and his friend by deliberately crashing her car into a brick building at a speed of 100 mph last year.
Mackenzie Shirilla, 19, was convicted in a bench trial on 12 counts: four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of drug possession, and one count of possessing criminal tools.
Upon hearing the verdict on Monday, Shirilla couldn’t hold back her tears as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo stated, “This wasn’t reckless driving. This was murder.”
The collision took place around 5:30 a.m. on July 31, 2022, when Shirilla accelerated her Toyota Camry into the Plidco Building, a substantial brick structure situated at the junction of Progress and Alameda Drive in Strongsville, a suburb of Cleveland. Police and prosecutors confirmed that the car sustained “severe damage and full airbag deployments,” and inside were Shirilla, 17 at the time, her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend Davion Flanagan, 19. All three were discovered unconscious, not breathing, and trapped in the vehicle approximately 45 minutes after the incident. While Shirilla was taken to a nearby hospital, Russo and Flanagan were pronounced dead at the accident site.
Shirilla was arrested on Nov. 4, 2022, when she was 18, in connection with the crash.
Prosecutors contended that Shirilla had an unhealthy relationship with Russo and had previously made threats against him.
Approximately two weeks before the collision, during a drive with Russo, she reportedly threatened to crash the car out of anger over a disagreement. Russo contacted his mother and was ultimately picked up by a friend. During a phone call between Russo and his friend, the friend allegedly overheard Shirilla saying, “I will crash this car right now,” as detailed in court documents.
Judge Nancy Margaret Russo delivered a scathing account of the case prior to announcing the verdict, asserting that Shirilla had a ‘mission’ that she executed with ‘precision’ on that fateful day — and that ‘the mission was death.’
“The [crash] video unmistakably reveals the intent and purpose of the defendant. On that day, she deliberately chose a path of death and devastation,” Judge Russo remarked.
“She transitions from a responsible driver to a vehicle of catastrophe as she navigates the street,” Russo noted, highlighting that Shirilla had deliberately opted to drive that morning, a time when there were fewer people around, taking an uncommon route she didn’t usually use.
Shirilla is scheduled to appear in court for her sentencing on Aug. 21.
