Fuzzy Slipper on the Gas Pedal: The Mackenzie Shirilla Murder Case

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A black Toyota Camry on a dead-end industrial road, two young men who had no idea what

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was about to happen.

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The accelerator floored had 100% and not a single touch of the brakes.

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Today, we're talking about McKenzie-Sharilla, the strong-sville crash that started as a tragedy

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and ended as a murder conviction, and then got even stranger when a one-day filing mistake

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locked every door behind her permanently.

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Welcome to 10 Minute Murder, and I know what you're about to say.

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What you've already covered this case, and yes, I have.

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But that was back in 2023, and since then we've got new documentaries, renewed interest

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in the case because of especially the new Netflix documentary that just came out recently,

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and there's also new evidence in the case.

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So I decided that instead of pointing you back to the old episode, I would just do an

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updated one with the newer information.

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So here we are.

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Strongsville, Ohio, doesn't generate a lot of headlines.

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It sits southwest of Cleveland, the kind of suburb where Friday night football games

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still draw big grouts.

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Neighbors recognize each other on site, and the collective assumption is that nothing too

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terrible is going to find its way there.

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Dominic Russo grew up there inside a family that was big and warm.

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Six siblings, parents Christy and Frank, and a 20-year-old already juggling three serious

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ambitions at once.

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He was trading stocks, producing music, and building a clothing line from scratch.

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He had that particular energy where you just assume the future is going to work out for

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him, because he was already putting in the work before most people his age had figured

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out what they wanted, right?

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Davien Flanagan, his path to Strongville was much more difficult.

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At eight years old, he and his two younger sisters were adopted by Jamie and Scott Flanagan

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after their biological parents could no longer provide stable care.

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They were apparently drug addicts.

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Davien made everything count after that.

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He became a starting running back at Strongville High School, coached youth swimmers in the

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off season, graduated with a class of 2022, and had already enrolled to start Barbara

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College in the fall of 2023.

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He was working full time that summer while it all played out.

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Two young men, same neighborhood, building real futures.

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And then there's Mackenzie Sherrilla.

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When she presented as a 17-year-old on her way somewhere, she had the TikTok presence,

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the fashion brand deals, the whole aesthetic.

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Classmates who knew her in person described a considerably different person.

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Several noted she openly modeled herself after Regina George from Mean Girls, and nobody

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was saying that warmly.

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One peer testified a trial that she had nearly come to a physical fight on multiple occasions

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because of Sherrilla's behavior.

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She posted captions like "I'm the one you die for" on social media, which scans an edgy

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personal branding right up until you know what comes next, and then it reads as something

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else entirely.

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She and Dominic had been together since she was 13 and he was 16.

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Four years.

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By 2021, they were living together in a house that Christine owned, and the arrangement

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was not peaceful.

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And Shalow Russo testified that the dynamic was highly toxic.

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Christine observed physical altercations between them in the six months before the crash, with

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Mackenzie Sherrilla being the aggressor.

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Dominic had been trying to leave for a long time, and the exits kept closing on him.

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The text message archives are where the story gets hard to look at directly.

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Thousands of messages going back to 2020 were recovered through forensic analysis.

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During a January 2020 argument where Dominic tried to end the relationship, Sherrilla wrote

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that if he left her, she would flip out and that she wanted to bang her head against a

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wall until she was dead.

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She followed that with "Maybe you should treat the girl who would die for you a little better,

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because when I'm gone, you're going to miss me."

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Other messages during separate arguments included "I'm going to kill someone," and

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repeated threats of self-harm deployed as leverage against breakups.

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In March 2020, police responded to a suicide threat at the Sherrilla home.

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She was 15 years old.

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Repairants told officers that threats were not real, and she was not hospitalized.

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Her mother maintained that position under oath at trial years later.

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Two weeks before the crash, Dominic called his mother in a panic from the shoulder of

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Interstate 71.

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Sherrilla had been driving erratically and threatening to destroy the car with him inside

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it.

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Family friend, Christopher Martin, drove out and picked Dominic up from the roadside.

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As Dominic fled the car, Martin heard Sherrilla screaming "I'm going to wreck this car right

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now," while hitting him with her hands.

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Days after that, Dominic recorded a video of Sherrilla standing in his driveway screaming

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and threatening to key his car if he didn't open the door.

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He kept that footage.

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July 31, 2022.

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Around 5.30 in the morning.

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Sherrilla is driving a black 2018 Toyota Camry.

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Dominic is in the passenger seat.

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Davian Flanagan is in the back right behind Dominic, catching a ride home from a party.

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That is his entire involvement.

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He just needed to get home.

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The car turns on to Progress Drive, a rough industrial corridor in Strongesville's northwest

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corner that terminates at the brick wall of a manufacturing facility.

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Officer Brent Robinson later testified that keeping a patrol cruiser on this road at

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54 mph required white knuckle grip just to hold the line.

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McKinsey's Toyota Camry began to accelerate.

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The vehicle's event data recorder, the black box, captured the final seconds.

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Accelerator pedal 100%.

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Break pedal 0%.

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Not once.

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The car peaked at 97 mph, drifted right, then left, left the roadway entirely and drove

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directly into a brick wall of the manufacturing facility at 80.5 mph.

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An officer that arrived on the scene described the Camry as looking like it had been sliced

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down the middle.

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Dominic Russo and Davian Flanagan were pronounced dead at the scene from Blunt Force trauma.

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McKinsey was found unconscious pinned under the caved-in dashboard, a lower body on the

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driver's side and her upper body twisted toward the passenger side.

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Her blood oxygen level was at 82%.

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Normal is 95 to 100.

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Paramedics found 8.1 grams of psychedelic mushrooms tucked into her shirt.

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The wreckage produced a digital scale, a bong, and marijuana.

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Toxicology confirmed all three occupants had marijuana in their systems.

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And then there's this detail.

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Wedge between the floorboard and her fully depressed accelerator pedal was McKinsey Shrillas'

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Fuzzy Prada Slipper.

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That detail generated global headlines and you can understand why.

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The defense built their case around pots.

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Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, an autonomic nervous system condition that causes

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sudden fainting episodes.

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They brought in a university hospital neurologist who reviewed Shrillas post-crash data and concluded

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her physiological markers, the low blood oxygen, elevated lactate, and retrograde amnesia

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she reported were all consistent with a seizure or severe autonomic event.

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She was a credentialed physician making a legitimate medical argument and it deserved to be

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evaluated on its merits.

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The county deputy chief medical examiner had initially classified both deaths as accidental,

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which a standard procedure for a vehicular crash.

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Investigators then brought him everything, GPS velocity data from life 360.

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The teen location sharing app used by Russo and Flanagan's friends, which had logged the

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camera's precise speed during every second of its final run down progress drive.

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They added the black box to the imagery, the text message archives, the i71 witness

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account, and the video from Dominic's phone.

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The doctor then amended both death certificates, reclassifying the manner of death from accident

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to homicide based almost entirely on electronic evidence of intent.

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A procedural shift driven by text messages and a teenage GPS app was extraordinarily rare

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in Ohio legal history.

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Sherilla was indicted on 12 felony counts, including four counts of murder.

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She waved her right to a jury trial and placed her fate before the judge.

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On August 14, 2023, judge Russo delivered her verdict, guilty on all 12 counts.

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Her words were broadcast globally.

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"Her actions were controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful."

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This was not reckless driving.

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This was murder.

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She morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down

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the street.

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She goes on to say, "Even if Mackenzie also intended to die in this crash, that is irrelevant.

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A failed suicide attempt is not a defense to murder."

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Mackenzie Sherilla was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 2037, sentenced

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in August 2023.

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Prosecutors at sentencing showed video of Mackenzie attending music concerts and Halloween parties

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just a month after her hospital discharge.

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Her mother testified that she encouraged it because her daughter needed a moment of

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fun.

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Recorded jail calls later captured Mackenzie telling her mother that she personally

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did not need to be rehabilitated.

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Her mother agreed, saying those programs were for people convicted of crimes, like, quote,

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"actual criminals."

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The appeals ran through 2024 and 2025.

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The eighth district court of appeals upheld the conviction.

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The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear it.

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A new attorney filed a post-conviction petition backed by the doctor's neurological findings,

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raising medical questions no court had ever formally evaluated.

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No judge ever read them.

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Under Ohio Revise Code 2953.21, a post-conviction relief petition must be filed within 365 days

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of when the trial transcript is documented with the appeals court.

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The transcript was documented October 24, 2023.

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The deadline would be October 23, 2024.

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The petition arrived October 24, 2024.

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One day late.

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Her defense argued that 2024 being a leap year should push the deadline to the anniversary

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date.

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The court ruled the statute means 365 days every time.

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The petition was dismissed March 12, 2026, and every remaining legal avenue closed with

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it.

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Dominic Russo was 20 years old.

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Davian Flanagan was 19.

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Mackenzie Shrilla is serving a life sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Mary's

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Village.

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A Netflix documentary called The Crash, released in May 2026, featuring her first jailhouse

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interviews.

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Her father was placed on administrative leave from his teaching position following the

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comments that he made in the film.

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Two families buried their sons.

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One family is still arguing that their daughter didn't need rehabilitation.

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Make of that what you will.

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, bingeable True Crime Stories.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host, and if you find yourself right now thinking I want more answers, I want

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more of this story.

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Well, there's a million places you can get it.

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But if you want it from me specifically, you can check out my other podcast.

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I do a deeper dive into this story.

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The podcast is called True Crime Blueprint.

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It's available most places this is.

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True Crime Blueprint.

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And like I said, there's more in-depth information about Mackenzie Shrilla, about the two victims

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in the case, about how things were handled and etc.

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And also my opinion on certain parts of it.

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Hey, if you're brand new to 10 Minute Murder, make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're

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listening right now.

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You can go to 10minutemerder.com.

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You can find a way to contact me there.

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Also, listen links also, links to where you can find 10 Minute Murder on social media.

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And that's going to do it.

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That's your episode for today.

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Thank you for listening to 10 Minute Murder.

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See you next time.

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[Music]