Before the Crash That Shocked America, There Was One Last Sleepover…

In the hours leading up to the fatal crash, Mackenzie Shirilla, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan were spending time with friends at a “normal sleepover”

On the night of July 30, 2022, Mackenzie Shirilla was spending time with her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friends — including Davion Flanagan.

The three friends went to two hangouts, first stopping at Kellie Vraja’s home before heading to their friend Paul Burlinghaus’ home.

Several friends testified that the parties were “chill” and didn’t involve alcohol or drugs other than marijuana. Around 5 a.m., Shirilla and Russo got up to leave Burlinghaus’ home and Flanagan decided to join them.

The three friends left at 5:30 a.m., and just a few minutes later, Shirilla pushed on her accelerator, speeding up to 100 mph and slammed her 2018 Toyota Camry into a brick wall. The collision seemingly instantly killed Russo and Flanagan, and she was hospitalized for her injuries.

By November of that year, Shirilla was arrested in connection with their deaths and was later convicted in August 2023. She was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 15 years to life in prison. Since the Netflix doc about the case, The Crash, was released on May 15, several accounts of what happened in the hours leading up to the fatal incident have surfaced.

Here’s everything to know about what happened at the parties leading up to Mackenzie Shirilla’s fatal crash.

Where did Shirilla, Russo and Flanagan go on the night of July 30, 2022?

Bubba, Dom, and Mackenzie in The Crash.Courtesy of Netflix

On the evening of July 30, 2022, Shirilla’s friend Vraja hosted a graduation party that Shirilla, Russo and Flanagan attended with other friends around 10:15 or 10:30 p.m., Vraja recalled, per court documents.

She testified that Shirilla drove the friends to the party and asked Vraja “if I trip,” to which she said she did not. The three of them brought a bottle of tequila and a “weed pen” to the “laid back” gathering.

Shirilla left the party around 25 to 30 minutes later after they “were debating on going to somebody’s house or they were debating on tripping that night.”

After leaving Vraja’s home, Shirilla drove to longtime friend Burlinghaus’ home and arrived around 11 p.m. to “hang out.”

Burlinghaus recalled the small group of friends listening to music and having a night that he described to be “like just a normal sleepover.”

What did their friends say happened at Burlinghaus’ house?

Rosie Graham; Bubba.Courtesy of Netflix (2)

Several of the people who were at Burlinghaus’ house alleged that the gathering was not a party but was instead a casual sleepover.

“First of all, it wasn’t a party at all, because in my opinion and in everybody that was there, we call that a sleepover, and that was just a friend sleepover that we would normally do,” Shirilla’s friend Rosie Graham said in The Crash. “I brought a coloring book and colored pencils. We were watching YouTube videos.”

Graham’s friend and fellow attendee Bubba Turner recalled watching a “shark documentary” on TV with Flanagan and Russo. He said that “a couple of times,” a few of them would “go out and smack the bong.”

“We were having deep conversations and just sitting around,” Graham added.

Graham said that Shirilla was asleep by 3 a.m. and remembered seeing Russo “petting her head all night and cuddling up to her on the couch, and she was sleeping and he was just like caressing her hair.”

“There was not one argument, there was not one moment of tension, there was not one bad vibe towards anybody,” Graham continued. “And then really early in the morning, around 5, Dom came in the kitchen, and I was like, ‘Are you guys leaving?’ “

As Shirilla and Russo were planning on leaving, Flanagan — who was originally supposed to go home with Turner — changed his mind and decided to go home with Shirilla.

“For some reason that morning, he gave me a hug and he was like, ‘I love you,’ and I was like, ‘Love you too, bro.’ Very weird. It was the first time we said we love each other for awhile,” Turner said.

Meanwhile, Burlinghaus testified that he fell asleep around midnight and woke up around 3 or 4 a.m. to Shirilla asleep and Flanagan watching a TV show. Burlinghaus fell back asleep and said he woke up to all of his guests gone the next morning.

Several people at both of the parties alleged that marijuana was the only substance used by their friends.

Vraja testified that she didn’t see Shirilla, Flanagan or Russo using other drugs or drinking alcohol before they left.

Burlinghaus said that a few of them smoked marijuana, but he didn’t think Shirilla was one of them. He also testified that nobody consumed alcohol or any other drugs. Even though someone from Shirilla’s group brought psilocybin mushrooms (they were later found in her car), Graham doubled down that no one ingested them.

“We were also talking about doing the mushrooms, but then by the time they got over, it was like 12 a.m., and we’re all like, ‘It’s too late,’ ” Graham claimed. Graham reiterated that nobody participated in doing mushrooms and that was why the drugs were found in Shirilla’s car.

Both Graham and Turner specifically alleged that Shirilla did not smoke marijuana that night. Turner recalled Shirilla, who frequently smoked marijuana, was “on a smoke break.”

After Shirilla was sent to the hospital to treat her injuries, her blood work came back positive for THC but negative for alcohol and psilocybin.

When did Shirilla, Russo and Flanagan leave?

Mackenzie Shirilla’s car crash.Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office

Shirilla drove off with Russo in the passenger seat and Flanagan in the back seat around 5:30 a.m. on July 31, 2022.

“At that point when they left the house, you have this black hole the lack of knowing what took place inside that car,” Assistant Prosecutor Tim Troup said in The Crash.

Around six minutes later, Shirilla slammed on the accelerator until the vehicle reached around 100 mph and crashed into a brick wall.