Mackenzie Shirilla’s case has been making headlines ever since the documentary, The Crash, was released on Netflix on May 15, 2026 (ET). It has been almost a fortnight since the details of the horrifying incident left everyone stunned. The buzz around the case has been revived by the documentary and has even created a significant amount of backlash. For the unversed, Mackenzie Shirilla first made headlines after the July 2022 crash that took the lives of her co-passengers, including her boyfriend, Dominic Russo and their friend, Davion Flanagan.
Mackenzie Shirilla was convicted of the murders in 2023 and is currently serving a life sentence for the crime and is back in the spotlight courtesy of a Netflix documentary, The Crash. The documentary features interviews with Mackenzie, her friends and family. However, what has really caught everyone’s attention now is the dissection of Mackenzie’s body language by a Canadian mentalist and behaviour analyst, Bedros “Spidey” Akkelian, on his YouTube channel, The Behavioural Arts.
Was Mackenzie Shirilla deliberately vague in a key moment featured in Netflix’s The Crash?
Bedros Akkelian has over 1.47 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. In a video shared by him on May 24, 2026, he studied Mackenzie Shirilla’s body language in the documentary. He analysed the moment where the convicted teen was asked by an off-camera person, “How does a medical emergency account for the control of the car?” For the unversed, the question was a reference to Mackenzie’s defence during the trial, where she claimed she suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
For the unversed, POTS is a condition that can result in dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, shortness of breath, and more while driving. She revealed that it was not premeditated and alleged that she had no recollection of that morning. However, she admitted that she “[do] know [that] nothing about it was intentional, because that’s not my character.” While some viewers were convinced by her explanation, the body language expert has presented some concerns about her response.
The analyst, who previously shared his findings with outlets such as CNN and FOX News, said the interviewer had asked the right question because the way she answered said far more than she was willing to admit. Bedros Akkelian was quoted as saying:
“One of the things that we focus on is ‘Did this answer my question?’ and ‘Did this answer my entire question?’ So anything that falls along the lines of redirecting, not answering the question, answering only one specific part of the question — all these things fall into the category of non-answer statements or refusal to answer.”
The body language expert revealed Mackenzie Shirilla was “thinking too hard” while answering about the crash
Bedros Akkelian reflected on what happened on the morning of July 31, 2022, and said, “If you really think about it, her memory has nothing to do with the specific question.” He pointed out how Mackenzie Shirilla stumbled at the beginning of her response, which indicated she was thinking “too hard” or, in medical terms, Akkelian said, was “experiencing an increase in cognitive load.” However, he pointed out this was not because she did not know what to say, but rather because she was thinking hard about how to word her answer, perhaps to avoid getting in trouble.
An investigation into the car that Mackenzie Shirilla drove into the wall at a brick Plidco building revealed her foot was pressed to the accelerator to the full extent and that the brakes were not applied once before the impact. It played a significant role in determining Mackenzie’s punishment, as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge, Nancy Russo said while reading the ruling, “She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was d**th.” Mackenzie was sentenced to life in prison in August 2023 on four counts of homicide, four counts connected to causing severe bodily injury, two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of illicit substance possession, and one count of possessing criminal tools.
Mackenzie Shirilla had threatened to crash the car several times before
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, fought often and that family members viewed their relationship as toxic. According to reports and court filings, Mackenzie had threatened Dominic while driving that she would crash the car during an argument two weeks before the crash. He had called his mother and asked to be picked up, and a friend went to get him. However, that was not all. She was also recorded on another occasion threatening to key Dominic’s car and break the handle off a door after he refused to let her into his home.
What happened to Mackenzie Shirilla after her conviction?
While Mackenzie Shirilla serves her sentence, her legal team filed an appeal of the conviction in September 2023. However, the Ohio Eighth District Court dismissed the same. Almost a year later, in October 2024, her attorneys filed a post-conviction relief petition, which was also denied. The Supreme Court of Ohio also declined to review the appeal later on.
image credit: TheCrash/Netflix, TheBehaviouralArts/YT
What are your thoughts on Bedros Akkelian’s analysis of Mackenzie Shirilla’s body language in The Crash?
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