STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — More than three months after a car crash in Strongsville led to the deaths of two men, the lone survivor from the incident has been charged with aggravated murder.
Officials confirm 18-year-old Strongsville resident Mackenzie Shirilla is accused of killing 19-year-old Davion Flanagan and 20-year-old Dominic Russo back on July 31. Shirilla, who was 17 at the time of the incident, is also charged with breaking and entering, drug trafficking, and "related offenses in reference to incidents leading up to and as a result of [the] motor vehicle crash."
Shirilla, Flanagan, and Russo were all found unconscious and not breathing inside a smashed up Toyota Camry near the intersection of Progress and Alameda Drives around 6:15 a.m. that day. Officials have not specified what caused the vehicle to go off the road, but Flanagan and Russo were both pronounced dead at the scene while Shirilla was Life FIighted to MetroHealth Medical Center and survived.
Flanagan and Russo have each since been laid to rest, with Shirilla posting multiple messages and images on her Facebook page and on an obituary page for Russo. Police have not provided details as to why they decided to arrest Shirilla all these months later, however the Ohio Revised Code defines "aggravated murder" (among other instances) as follows:
"(A) No person shall purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy."
"(B) No person shall purposely cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy while committing or attempting to commit, or while fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit, kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, arson, aggravated robbery, robbery, aggravated burglary, burglary, trespass in a habitation when a person is present or likely to be present, terrorism, or escape."
It is unknown at this time if Cuyahoga County prosecutors plan to charge Shrilla as a juvenile or an adult. Either way, since she was under the age of 18 at the time of her alleged crimes, she is ineligible to face the death penalty.