The Crash Ending Explained: What Mackenzie Shirilla Reveals About Her Guilty Verdict

Netflix‘s The Crash explores the high-profile Mackenzie Shirilla case, where the teen driver slammed her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. Those familiar with the case know that Shirilla was found guilty on two counts of murder of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend, Davion Flanagan. The Crash explores the events that led to the fatal car crash and how the police and the prosecution reached their conclusion that it was vehicular homicide.

The Crash (2026)	Details
Director	Gareth Johnson
Exec Producers	Rebecca North and Jonny Taylor
Streaming platform	Netflix
Release Date	May 15, 2026

One of the most surprising elements of the documentary movie was the appearance of Mackenzie Shirilla herself, who is currently incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. She presents her side of the story, still maintaining her innocence. The documentary balances both sides of the story, bringing in both people who don’t believe her story and those who support her version. Here’s how it went down in the documentary.

Mackenzie Shirilla Presents Her Side of the Story

An investigation into the car crash soon brought up evidence that Mackenzie Shirilla intentionally crashed the car, turning it into a vehicular homicide. Before the police and the prosecution turned their attention to Shirilla, she appeared as a victim to everyone, including Dominic’s father and sister. However, Dominic’s mother and Davion’s family were not buying into Shirilla’s innocence.

However, the Netflix documentary did not just show us the mountain of evidence against her. The documentary brought Mackenzie Shirilla to the screen to present her side of the story (of course, with a lawyer present). She maintained her innocence, sharing that the accident was not intentional. She also continued to maintain the story that she and Dom had a loving relationship and that they were happy.

She was asked about the various issues with her version of the story, the most prominent being how she conveniently forgot the moments before the crash. However, she said that it was true, adding that she couldn’t just tell anything to satisfy what people wanted to hear.

About what possibly led to the ‘accident’ from her viewpoint, she repeated the story that her defense attorney presented in court. She claimed that she had a condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), the symptoms of which include dizziness and blackout. She explained that she possibly passed out at the wheel. However, the prosecution disputed this theory, saying that Shirilla couldn’t have pressed on the acceleration pedal in an unconscious state.

What Led to Mackenzie Shirilla’s Guilty Verdict

Mackenzie Shirilla opted for a bench trial in 2023, which meant that her case was tried before a judge. The overwhelming amount of evidence presented against her not only convinced the judge, but also Dom’s father and sister, who couldn’t believe that she was capable of murder. The prosecution was clear that Shirilla showed no mercy to the victims.

There were things about the accident that made no sense. One, the pre-crash data showed that she applied the accelerator pedal fully and never used the service brake during the entire 5 seconds before the crash. Two, her blood report showed no high levels of psilocybin, which indicated that she was fully in control of the situation. And three, the video footage further showed that the car was not out of control before the crash.

There was also plenty of evidence pointing to a toxic relationship between her and Dominic. One particular video shown in court portrayed Shirilla as irate and angry, even abusive to her partner. As mentioned earlier, the argument of her POTS condition failed in court.

She was convicted on 12 felony counts, including murder. The judge called her “hell on wheels” while announcing the guilty verdict. During her sentencing hearing, numerous people sent letters to the prosecution supporting her and asking for leniency. Davion’s sister asked for the maximum sentence, while Shirilla’s mother asked the court for leniency. Faced with the possibility of 15 or 30 years in prison, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each count of murder served concurrently, with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Is Mackenzie Shirilla Appealing Her Guilty Verdict?

While the Netflix documentary using Mackenzie Shirilla’s social media personality as evidence of her psyche comes across as troubling, the actual evidence against her presented in court supports the guilty verdict. However, it isn’t just Shirilla who appears to be a problematic person in this whole mess. Her parents’ actions (they appeared in the documentary) also have no justifications.

The documentary presents the times when Shirilla’s problems come to light before the crash, but her parents seemingly ignored them, even telling the camera that she “needn’t be disciplined.” Her mother tried to close a brand deal on social media just days after the accident, which Davion’s father aptly described as “tone-deaf.”

Natalie Shirilla is convinced that her daughter didn’t do anything and has vowed to go to the Supreme Court if it comes to that. According to the documentary, their first appeal was denied, but their efforts continue.

Shirilla said in the final moments of the documentary, “There’s not a moment that doesn’t pass where I don’t think about them or I don’t feel the pain in my chest.” When asked if she had any last words to say in the movie, she weirdly breaks out of her sad persona and turns to her lawyer to ask whether she touched upon everything. She even tells him that she didn’t want to force out anything that presented her as “crazy”. This portion doesn’t paint her in a good light, but she still had some last words to say:

I just wanna just make sure that I’m big on the no intent. There was no intent whatsoever there. I have excessive amounts of remorse for Dominic, Davion, and both of their families. This was not intentional, and I will do everything i can to prove that to the world and the families. That’s it.

The documentary explores both sides well and concludes with Davion’s father’s comments on forgiveness. He shared that he wants Shirilla to come clean about the events of the night and that he would be grateful if she could provide him and the family with that closure.

What do you think of the Mackenzie Shirilla case and the documentary’s approach to it?

The Crash is now available for streaming on Netflix.