US6 min(s) read
Published 13:37 04 Jun 2026 GMT
Here are the five ways Mackenzie Shirilla allegedly gave herself away in her Netflix documentary.
The 21-year-old is serving a sentence in Ohio after being convicted of murdering her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 18, in a car crash.
The case has exploded back into the spotlight following the release of the streaming site's documentary, The Crash, which revisits the fatal July 2022 collision that killed both young men after a car slammed into a brick wall at more than 100 mph.
In the documentary, Shirilla maintains her innocence and claims she has no memory of the moments leading up to the crash.
But body language expert Logan Portenier, host of the YouTube channel Observe, spent hours analyzing footage of the prisoner before and after the tragedy, including social media clips, arrest footage and scenes from her Netflix appearance.
Speaking to The US Sun, he identified five moments he believes reveal what was really happening beneath the surface.
Before the crash, Shirilla regularly shared videos of herself and Dominic on TikTok.
Portenier reviewed one clip filmed in a car and noticed a notable contrast between the couple.
"He doesn't seem to be as stoked for this video that she's filming as she does," he said. "It didn't seem as though they were quite on the same page emotionally."
While Shirilla appeared focused on poses and facial expressions, Portenier said Dominic seemed more reserved.
"She's doing her different poses and expressions for the sake of the video and for his side of things, he seems much more reserved and subdued," he said, adding that "it’s performative".
According to the expert, the clip showed early signs of Shirilla carefully controlling how she was perceived, something he believes later reappeared in more serious situations.
In another TikTok filmed at home, Shirilla tried to get Dominic involved in a mirror video while he lingered awkwardly in the background.
"Mackenzie is doing a lot of the posing," Portenier explained. "He’s kind of there and he’s being present, albeit uncomfortable, reserved, and needing to do a little bit of self-soothing to be able to make it through."
Portenier pointed to Dominic's self-hugging posture and hands as signs of discomfort rather than defensiveness.
The observations come amid revelations that the pair's relationship had become increasingly troubled before the crash.
Portenier also studied videos showing Shirilla filming herself while driving.
With hindsight, the footage has become especially unsettling given that Dominic and Davion later died while riding in a vehicle she was driving.
"It's very focused on the phone and what she appears like on it," Portenier said. "There are some head tilts in there as well as she's trying to be perceived in a very specific way."
After surviving the crash, Shirilla underwent multiple surgeries before investigators eventually charged her with murder in November 2022.
Portenier believes videos from her arrest captured some of the most genuine emotions seen throughout the case. "I don't know that she's aware that there's a camera pointed at her," he said.
Per the expert, movements around her forehead showed real sadness and grief. He also pointed specifically to the upward movement of the middle portion of her eyebrows, something he associates with emotional distress.
In separate footage from the back of a police cruiser, Portenier said her widened eyes pointed to anxiety and fear.
Furthermore, he noted physiological changes around her nose and upper lip that he believes indicated real emotional stress.
The expert's most damning assessment came when reviewing Shirilla's appearance in The Crash.
As she entered the interview wearing prison scrubs and sat down with her arms crossed, Portenier said her body language suggested distress and self-soothing behavior.
He then concentrated on her eyebrows and what he described as asymmetrical facial expressions.
"Her right eyebrow does not have the same activation as her left eyebrow," he said. "Her left eyebrow is doing the exact same expression that we saw in the cruiser. Her right eyebrow is not."
"It's an asymmetrical expression which lets us know this isn't authentic empathy," he continued. "This isn't authentic pain or fear or grief that she's feeling here. It's forced."
Portenier also pointed to her pursed lips, a behavior he says appeared repeatedly in her TikTok videos.
He believes Shirilla was trying to influence how viewers perceived her. "She wants people to feel a certain way," he claimed.
Portenier also alleged that even her voice appeared different. "And then when we get to this specific interview, she's talking at a lower register, she has a little bit more husky to her voice," he said. "My immediate thought was, this has to be something about the performance that she's obviously performing."
Allegations from a former inmate have added another layer of controversy to Shirilla's case.
Anastasia, who served time alongside the 21-year-old at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, told the Daily Mail that the convicted killer allegedly gave a very different account of the crash behind bars.
Despite publicly maintaining that she blacked out and cannot remember the incident, Anastasia claimed Shirilla admitted she intentionally crashed the car because "Dom had to die."
"She said she was suicidal, but she almost looked as though she was enjoying (telling the story) - like she was amused by it," she alleged.
The former inmate also claimed Shirilla blamed supernatural forces for the crash.
"She said the devil made her do it," she alleged. "She said the devil was pressing on her foot."
Anastasia further contended that Shirilla kept a prison scrapbook filled almost entirely with photographs of herself, including an image of a brick wall labeled "BOOM".
"She didn't have any pictures of Dom or Davion, I felt like that was cold," Anastasia stated.
Shirilla was convicted in 2023 on 12 felony charges after a judge determined the crash was a premeditated act.
She received two concurrent life sentences and will first become eligible for parole in 2037.
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