516 - Murder at 100 MPH: The Mackenzie Shirilla Case
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How did the crash on Progress Drive unfold and who were the victims?
In the pre-dawn hours of July 31st, 2022, a black Toyota Camry turned onto a road leading to an industrial district in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, Ohio. Behind the wheel was 17-year-old Mackenzie Sherilla. In the passenger seat was her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and in the backseat, their friend, but really more of Dominic's friend, Davion Flanagan. Seconds after McKenzie made that turn, calmly and in perfect control, the car surged forward, accelerated up to 100 miles per hour, and then did not slow down as it hurled off of the road, jumped up and over the sidewalk, shot across the grass, obliterated a sign, and kept speeding straight into a solid brick wall of a big manufacturing facility.
McKenzie, pinned under the dashboard, badly broken, will somehow survive. Dominic and Davion will not. In the immediate aftermath, to friends and family, this was devastating and confusing, but ultimately an accident. To the first responders, it looked like reckless driving. McKenzie herself seemed to rationalize it as a freak medical accident. But soon, to the investigators who pulled the car apart and started to analyze the data, they started to think this was something else entirely. When they looked into who Mackenzie was, poring over her TikTok and Instagram posts and talking to friends and acquaintances of not just her, but of the young men who died in that car, they started to think that maybe this was murder.
Today, we're diving into the disturbing and deeply tragic case of Mackenzie Sherilla on this week's True Crime. If you decide to drive your car into a wall, maybe you're not just a bad driver, but a murderer. Edition of Time Suck.
This is Michael McDonald, and you're listening to Time Suck.
Well, happy Monday and welcome or welcome back to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Cummins, the Suckmaster, status quo questioner. Guy who sometimes thinks life would be so much easier if I wasn't so curious. And you are listening to Time Suck. Hail Nimrod, hail Lucifina, praise be to good boy Bojangles and glory be to Triple M. Final reminder that tickets are still on sale until August 1st for Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp 26, Hoedown Showdown, the final camp. This camp will be held Thursday, September 10th, 2026, 2 p.m. as a start time through Sunday, September 13th. And that will be in Equinunk, Pennsylvania, kind of by upstate New York there, not too far from Woodstock. All kinds of extra details.
At badmagicproductions.com, very excited to head back to Equinox and see a bunch of familiar faces and some new ones as well. Good weather, bad weather, a lot of fun is going to be had regardless. A lot of memories are going to be made and a lot of bacon will be eaten. Okay, let us dig into this story that shocked first a suburb of Cleveland and then grabbed the attention of the rest of the nation and beyond.
Before the fatal car wreck, Mackenzie Sherilla seemed to many like a typical, you know, albeit angsty, social media-obsessed 17-year-old. Fresh out of Strongsville High, living in a comfortable suburb south of Cleveland, she appeared to have it all. Popularity, designer clothes, a tight-knit friend group, a long-term boyfriend she had been with since she was barely a teenager. That boyfriend was Dominic Russo, or Dom for short. They had been together for about four years, and to those who knew them, they weren't just dating, they were inseparable. even living together. Most people assumed they would end up getting married. On July 30, 2022, Mackenzie, Dom, and their friend Davion rolled up to a low-key graduation party at a friend's place around 10.15 at night.
Mackenzie, Dom, and Davion mainly kept to themselves, chatting in the corner before they left the party to hang out at another friend's house. Friends would later insist that everybody was in good spirits, that there were no arguments, not a single perceived moment of tension, nothing that anyone noticed. Then sometime around 5.30 in the following morning, the three of them piled into McKenzie's car, drove off into the dark.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
How did the crash on Progress Drive unfold and who were the victims?
0:00–10:30
2
What was Mackenzie Sherilla’s upbringing, online persona, and family dynamic?
10:30–27:52
3
What did investigators find at the scene and what did vehicle data and CCTV reveal?
27:52–1:15:05
4
What did experts and video evidence reveal about the Camry's final seconds?
1:15:05–1:18:33
5
How did prosecutors use texts, videos, and GPS to argue premeditation?
1:18:33–1:22:48
6
What happened during the sentencing hearing and families' victim impact statements?
1:22:48–1:32:51
7
How has public reaction, appeals, prison behavior, and aftermath shaped the case?
1:32:51–2:21:49
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Timesuck with Dan Cummins
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