Murder of Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan

Dominic Russo, 20, and Davion Flanagan, 19, died on July 31, 2022, when a car driven by Mackenzie Shirilla, then 17, struck a building in Strongsville, Ohio, at about 5:30 a.m. Both passengers were pronounced dead at the scene; Shirilla, who was driving, was severely injured. Investigators concluded the crash was intentional, and in 2023 a judge convicted Shirilla of murder following a bench trial.

Russo, Flanagan, and Shirilla were part of a larger friend group in Strongsville. Flanagan and Shirilla had recently graduated from Strongsville High School, where Flanagan was the starting running back; he had applied to attend Allstate Hairstyling & Barber College that fall. Russo, who was raised in Strongsville, was close with his family and interested in music, basketball, and stock trading. Shirilla and Russo had dated for about four years and had lived together since 2021. Text messages reported by People magazine showed a volatile relationship: Shirilla said she wanted to "kill someone," and Russo alleged she had threatened to stab him; each also accused the other of blackmail.

In March 2020, police and fire crews responded to a reported suicide threat by Shirilla, then 15, at her family's home; she was not hospitalized because her parents told responders they did not believe she intended to harm herself. In the weeks before the crash, relatives of Russo told investigators the couple had been fighting and that Shirilla had been driving erratically; a witness reported hearing Shirilla say she was going to wreck the car while striking Russo inside the vehicle.

Security cameras recorded Shirilla's 2018 Toyota Camry accelerating to more than 100 miles per hour before it struck the corner of a building on Progress Drive, with Russo in the front passenger seat and Flanagan in the back. First responders reached the scene about 45 minutes later; police found psilocybin mushrooms and a digital scale in Shirilla's possession. An automotive expert found the car mechanically sound, and onboard computer data showed the accelerator, not the brake, was engaged at impact. Shirilla told investigators she had blacked out and had no memory of the crash; her attorneys pointed to a circulatory condition that can cause fainting. Prosecutors said the car's path required deliberate steering, and that phone location data placed Shirilla at the crash site three days earlier. Photographs of Shirilla in corpse-style Halloween makeup posted to social media were also introduced at trial.

Shirilla was arrested by November 4, 2022, and charged with 17 offenses, including two counts of aggravated murder and one count of drug trafficking. She waived a jury trial; on August 14, 2023, the presiding judge found her guilty of murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular homicide, drug possession, and criminal tools possession — 12 felony counts in total — ruling the crash premeditated. On August 21, 2023, she was sentenced to two concurrent life terms with parole eligibility after 15 years, and her driver's license was permanently revoked.

Shirilla's attorneys filed an unsuccessful appeal in September 2023 and a second appeal in April 2025 that was denied as untimely; in March 2026, an appellate court upheld that denial. She remains incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, with parole eligibility in October 2037. In interviews in 2025 and 2026, Shirilla's parents said they believe the crash was unintentional and that she was wrongly convicted. Friends placed a memorial near the crash site, and Flanagan's family later established a scholarship in his name to support aspiring barbers. A Netflix documentary featuring an interview with Shirilla began streaming in May 2026, after earlier podcast and television coverage of the case.