Netflix’s latest true crime doc revisits a deadly crash, bringing Mackenzie Shirilla — and her parents — back into the spotlight.

Where are Mackenzie Shirilla’s parents now? Inside their lives after The Crash

Netflix's latest true crime doc revisits a deadly crash, bringing Mackenzie Shirilla — and her parents — back into the spotlight.

By Britt Hayes

May 19, 2026 3:07 p.m. ET

Mackenzie Shirilla and her father, Steve Shirilla. Credit:

Ohio Reformatory for Women; Netflix

- *The Crash* is a Netflix documentary revisiting the case of Mackenzie Shirilla. - Mackenzie was convicted of deliberately crashing her car in a 2022 accident that left two dead. - Following *The Crash*'s debut, her father was placed on administrative leave at the school where he works.

Nearly four years after Mackenzie Shirilla crashed her car into a brick wall, killing her boyfriend and a friend, the devastating case is back in the news thanks to the new Netflix documentary* The Crash*. The popular true-crime doc revisits the case and its aftermath, reigniting debate over whether the Ohio teen deliberately crashed her car that day in 2022.

*The Crash* notably features the first on-camera interview with Mackenzie, who was convicted in 2023 of killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo and a friend, Davion Flanagan, and is serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in Ohio. While *The Crash* examines additional evidence and offers new perspectives on the case, it's also brought renewed attention to the friends and family members affected by the incident — including Mackenzie's parents, who appear alongside their daughter in the Netflix documentary.

Below, get the latest on Mackenzie's parents — and how the documentary is affecting their lives.

What did Mackenzie Shirilla do?

Mackenzie Shirilla, as seen in 'The Crash'.

In the early morning hours of July 31, 2022, 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla crashed her car into a brick wall in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, Ohio. As heard in bodycam footage presented in *The Crash*, one officer described it as "the worst crash I've ever seen." Shirilla was accompanied by two passengers: her boyfriend of four years, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, and a friend, 19-year-old Davion Flanagan. Both were pronounced dead at the scene, while Mackenzie suffered broken bones and was airlifted to a local hospital.

Whether Mackenzie intentionally crashed her car remains the subject of intense debate. According to court filings, friends and family members said that Mackenzie and Russo frequently argued and, according to Russo's brother Angelo, had broken up and gotten back together "many times." During the trial, a friend of Russo's testified that he overheard Mackenzie threaten to crash her car with Russo inside about two weeks before the incident.

Forensic analysis of the vehicle determined that, in the moments leading up to the crash, the accelerator was fully depressed, sending the car into the wall at approximately 100 mph. The brake pedal was never engaged.

Though investigators found small bags of psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana on Mackenzie after the crash, blood tests determined that she was not driving under the influence at the time.

Mackenzie was arrested in November 2022 on 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. She maintains her innocence and claims that she has no recollection of the incident, which she attributes to a medical episode.

"I'm not going to lie just because people want to hear a story. I have no recollection of that morning," Mackenzie says in the documentary. "I'm not saying I'm innocent — I was a driver of a tragedy. But I'm not a murderer."

Who are Mackenzie Shirilla’s parents?

Dominic Russo, Mackenzie Shirilla, Steve Shirilla, and Natalie Shirilla, as seen in 'The Crash'.

Natalie and Steve Shirilla also live in Strongsville. The Shirillas maintain that prosecutors failed to prove Mackenzie intentionally crashed the car.

"Show me one piece of evidence — one — that says she did this on purpose," Steve told WKYC's 3News in 2025. "Show it to me, 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 gleaned from the black box information."

Natalie told investigators that her daughter was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, in 2017 — a nervous system condition that can cause increased blood pressure, dizziness, and fainting. These symptoms typically manifest when transitioning from sitting or lying down to standing. Natalie said she gave Mackenzie's medical information to the defense team, along with text messages that challenged the claim that Mackenzie had threatened to crash her car two weeks prior to the incident. She also offered "access to automotive experts who could have challenged the state's interpretation of the crash data."

"Nothing we gave to her attorney ever made it into court," Natalie told WKYC. "I just remember thinking, 'How is this even real?'"

The Shirillas enlisted neurologist Dr. Kamal Chemali to review Mackenzie's medical records following the crash. Dr. Chemali said the data is "consistent with loss of consciousness" at the time of the event.

Mackenzie's defense attorney additionally claimed that text messages challenge the prosecution's narrative that Mackenzie was the aggressor in the relationship. "There were the text messages and communications about the argument that took place demonstrating that it wasn't necessarily as testified to, and that she may not have been responsible — and in fact was not responsible — for starting that argument or threatening to crash the car," attorney Eric Nemecek told WKYC.

Where are Natalie and Steve Shirilla now?

Natalie and Steve Shirilla in 'The Crash'.

Courtesy of Netflix (2)

The Shirillas appear in *The Crash* to revisit much of the evidence they've uncovered. Natalie shares screenshots of text messages from Mackenzie, who claimed that Russo was "trying to end my life" in the lead-up to the incident.

While Mackenzie's first appeal was denied, her family says in the documentary that they will "continue to fight her conviction" with the help of their defense team.

On May 18, following the release of *The Crash* on Netflix, Steve Shirilla was placed on administrative leave from his position as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland. School administrators sent an email to notify parents of an investigation into "allegations made on social media that one of our teachers has demonstrated poor judgment."

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A parent who wished to remain anonymous told Cleveland 19 News that Steve is loved and respected by students. "As a parent I can understand the want to support and protect your daughter, however, I do think the way a lot of this was handled by the parents wasn't tasteful and some of the light that Mr. Shirilla has been in due to this case and the documentary draws a negative light to our school and is drawing a scary amount of attention to our kids," the parent said. "The administrative leave he was placed on was not for actions he has done at the school itself and was as a result of the backlash of the community."

Steve confirmed to 19 News that he was placed on administrative leave, but added that he doesn't know anything else about the investigation at this time. According to the report, Steve is "upset with the documentary and how the editing of it came out," and said that there was much more he said that was not included in *The Crash*.

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Source: “EW Documentary”