Black box uncovers Mackenzie Shirilla's true intentions and victims' final moments in The Crash
A new documentary may finally uncover what happened in the seconds leading up to a high speed car crash that claimed the lives of two best friends.
Dominic Russo and his friend Davion Flanagan were 20 and 19 when Mackenzie Shirilla drove her car into a brick wall at 100mph.
Shirilla survived, while her boyfriend Russo died on impact and Flanagan was found alive at the scene but died before the helicopter could get there.
Netflix's latest true crime doc, The Crash, delves into that tragic July night in 2022, which still holds many unanswered questions around how it happened.
Advert
Just 17 at the time, Shirilla was arrested and charged with the murder of Russo and Flanagan, being found guilty and sentenced to at least 15 years in prison (with a maximum of life in prison).
Though this was initially unthinkable for those who had been following the case, several key pieces of evidence came out which proved not only that Shirilla was guilty, but that the two boys faced horrifying final moments before the crash which took their lives.
A forensic analysis of the crash painted a picture of guilt for Mackenzie Shirilla
Speaking in the documentary, assistant prosecutor Tim Troup explains how a major breakthrough in the case came from the forensic criminal analysis of the crash.
Initial enquiries looked into Shirilla’s slipper, which was found wedged to the accelerator, with investigators thinking this may be the cause of the crash.
The forensic analysis, however, found that it had become trapped as a result of the impact of the crash rather than causing it.
It also found that she had made no attempt to brake and had floored the accelerator at 100 percent, something that became a major part of the prosecution's successful claim that Mackenzie murdered Russo and Flanagan.
The ‘Black Box’ in the car reveals Russo and Flanagan's final moments before crash
Highway Patrol officer Sergeant Ryan Fox explains how every car has an ‘electronic data recording system’, which can be used to pull out data when a crash happens.
In the case of Shirilla, this provided the data in the five seconds leading up to the crash, including the fact that she did not attempt to brake.
Another fairly straightforward detail in it, however, hides a pretty terrifying reality.
Three seconds before the crash there was a ‘steering input’, a right movement, a left movement, and a hard right movement. The car, an automatic, also shifted from drive into neutral into drive.
Tim Troup said: “I think the boys were trying to save their life. I think Dominic and Davion were grabbing at the wheel, yanking on the gear shift, and it was just too late.”
During the trial, forensic mechanical expert Mark Sargent told the court that while the 'hard-right turn could be consistent with a driver attempting to maintain or get control of the vehicle... it could also be consistent with a passenger pulling onto the wheel trying to avoid a collision'.
He added: "It could also have been a physical reaction caused by the impact of the vehicle hitting the ground after becoming airborne."
Flanagan’s father, Scott, speaks in the documentary about how he wishes Shirilla would ‘admit’ what happened on the day so his family can have some closure about what happened in their final moments.
Shirilla, who will be in prison for at least another decade and possibly the rest of her life, maintains it was an accident and that she has no memory of the crash and no intentions to kill her boyfriend.
The Crash will be available to watch on Netflix from 15 May.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Crime, TV and Film, Documentaries
Michael Slavin