Rotten Mango - ‘You Have 3 Seconds to Answer': The Toxic Countdown Texts Before Mackenzie's Deadly Crash

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

19 year old Davion Flanagan’s family and 20 year old Dominic Russo’s family want to know what the hell happened that morning. How could 17 year old Mackenzie Shirilla drive her car straight into a brick building at 100 mph killing their two boys? How could she be the sole survivor?   This is the case of Mackenzie Shirilla who used a high speed, intentional motor vehicle collision to end the lives of her longterm boyfriend Dominic Russo and his friend/roommate at the time, Davion Flanagan.   After the release of Netflix’s documentary, ’The Crash,’ interest surrounding the case grew but audiences were left with more questions about the fuller picture. Naturally, we FOIA requested this case to the authorities and received:   Over 4 thousand videos. Over 4 thousand photos. Around 31 thousand pages of text messages. Around 92 thousand text messages between just Mackenzie and Dominic. Close to 800 text messages between Mackenzie and her father, Steve Shirilla. Close to 2 thousand text messages between Mackenzie and her close friends. As well as 2 thousand pages of Instagram DMs. 2 entire phone data extraction files with hundreds of personal videos, photos, and audio messages. And 97 jail calls from Mackenzie post-conviction.   We have gone through all of it and we’re here to break it down for you.         Full show notes available at RottenMangoPodcast.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Badavim, baddaboo. Welcome to the second half of part one of the case of Mackenzie Shirella. In the first half of part one, we went through a lot of what people have been saying about McKenzie Shurrilla's personality, getting to know all of her school disciplinary records, how she was trying to be a social media influencer, a lot of her private Instagram DMs, because we received a 2,000-page document of just her Instagram direct messages that were a little eye-opening, as well as the fact that once she woke up from the car crash as the sole survivor after Dominic Russo and Davy on Flanagan were killed in the car crash, she claims that she doesn't

remember a single thing. She doesn't remember pedal to the metal going nearly 100 miles per hour straight into a brick building, never touching the break. She doesn't remember anything. Nothing. So with that being said, this is the second half. Text messages from almost exactly a year before the crash, Mackenzie tells Dom, maybe when you can actually formulate a sentence yourself and not just repeat what I said last, I'll take this fucking conversation seriously. To which Dom responds, WTF, see, I don't say anything mean. You just purposely try to say hurtful things. You say that I'm not going on vacation with you. You say you're not going to do anything for me anymore. Like what? You said you were going to break up with me too. Like that's all verbally abusive. When you want to fix this on both ends, let me know. Mackenzie responds, I'm allowed to say how I feel and if you don't like that, then that sucks. Why would I want to go on vacation with someone that won't even give me one gram of free weed? So this is literally just her getting mad that he's not giving her weed.

He tells her he does give her weed of like free weed all the time, right? He's like, what do you, you always demand weed from me? I'm giving it to you. Like, what do you? She just responds, too bad because I don't want your whack-ass weed anymore. I never want it again. He's like, so we're done over that? Is there someone else?

Like you literally got me thinking about quitting weed. And she blames everything on Dom. Now, a lot of people might take this as the truth, but I will say consistently over 30,000 something pages. This is like a pattern of McKenzie. Anything wrong happens in her life. She blames somebody. So she says, how are you going to get me addicted to weed?

And then not give me weed when I need it. Like the fuck? So fed up with your shit. I personally don't think that Dom got her addicted to weed. I think that, I mean, they're all teenagers. I think that she would have discovered weed regardless of Dom. I don't even know if he's the one that introduced it to her or if they both started at the same time.

Like, she just likes to blame everyone for all of her problems. To which Don responds, Kenzie, I try to tell you not to rip bongs at six in the morning, but you do it every day. And she responds, that's not the problem, hon. I give you free wheat. That doesn't mean you can smoke as much as you want. Kenzie, you smoke like a chimney and you're being mean as fuck to me right now. Even when he's trying to be level-headed and worried for her health, she's just kind of

freaking out on him. She just kind of expects him to do everything for her, even emotionally be there for her no matter what she's feeling. And McKenzie feels a lot of things seemingly all the freaking time. When Dom is going on a flight to California, he texts McKenzie that it's really annoying because he's in the middle seat. Quote, I'm in between two people. I don't know.

She responds, WTF. Yeah, right? So he's thinking, oh my gosh, like she's. feeling bad for me. I'm going to need to know if it's a girl. He reassures her. It probably won't be anyone to worry about. I haven't seen anyone that is attractive at all. Just mostly weird looking people. One person who knows the couple says, none of Dom's exes would even keep in contact with him because they all knew McKenzie was kind of crazy. She's psycho a little bit. But it seems like he's just expected to do everything, even pay for her. In text messages, they're discussing a potential trip to New

York City. Dom is asking her, can you afford it? Which is like a completely normal question to ask because New York City is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. to visit, so it's a completely valid question. McKenzie freaks out. Actually, maybe I don't want to go with you if you're going to be like that. I'm not going on vacation with you, so I'm done talking about this. Why are you literally being crazy right now? To which Don responds, Kenzie, you're being crazy. She responds, Dom, I'm filling out a fucking job application while you're spamming me. Dom is just so taken aback. He's like, you're trying to make me feel obligated to spend thousands on you. She responds in caps. Then don't question mark. Which side note about her filling out a job

application. McKenzie was fired from multiple jobs. Those who worked with her said that she was just like a shit employee. For Dunkin' Donuts, she had just gotten her hair done the day I think of coming into her shift. So the manager tells her, hey, you know, it's like part of the uniform. You have to wear the Duncan hat because everybody wears the Duncan hat. And like you work for Duncan. So you're going to wear the Duncan hat. And she is so offended by this. She's sending like voice notes to her friends. And she's like, can you believe that they told me to wear the hat? And I was trying to explain to them. I just got my hair done so I can't wear the hat. And the manager was telling her, you can't expect us to let you have special privileges and

treat you differently from any of the other employees. Like you have to wear the hat. McKenzie quits on the spot, leaves a horrible review for the Dunkin' Donuts location, which normally I side with the employee, but it's very interesting that she genuinely does not comprehend why it's inappropriate for her to be treated differently than other employees. The concept befuddles her. To her, it's just like, what's the big deal about a hat? Which, like, sure, maybe if it was one time, but she strikes me as the person to have a new reason every single time. Today, it's the hat.

Tomorrow, it's the, oh, I can't help you clean something because I just got my nails done. Like, it's always something. One peer... You're wearing a fast food restaurant. It's health coat. What do you eat? So one peer tells officers later, I mean, she worked with my step sister at Dunkin' Donuts for a little bit. That's all I know.

And then my step sister told me that she was a terrible worker. She's just rude to everyone. just didn't care. She'll post on her Instagram stories, a picture of a bag that's for sale, a purse, and then she'll DM Dom. This is a new bag. It's silver. He's confused. He's like, why are you posting it on your Instagram story? Just in case someone wants to buy or send it to me. Um, L-O-L, okay. Babe, only $400. She also sends him a link to Venus Flowers, the Forever flowers and then she sends another link to a pair of boots that are three and a half thousand dollars it's like three thousand four hundred dollars for a pair of boots don responds those are so gas

she responds i want them he's trying to be reasonable the price tag on them is crazy though do you think you can walk in them mackenzie ignores and dms him post a pick of us on i g yes what picture you pick i'll see what i got she texts him another time i'm at norstroms if i see a skim dress can I buy it? But like maybe the relationship is not always all the time one-sided. Maybe McKenzie does a lot of things for Dom too. In one text message exchange, McKenzie text Dom, I'm bringing home sushi and Kalamari for you. Dom says bet. McKenzie responds, I got sushi from this place and they literally gave me the most gross shit ever. To which Dom is confused and he's texting her back, what place and what sushi are you bringing me? It isn't going to be gross, right?

McKenzie responds, babe, I don't know what to wear tomorrow. So it feels like she's bringing him gross shit, like the leftovers. Even prom, McKenzie says that she got a super custom, very expensive dress that Dom paid half of the entire dress. He even rented a party bus just for the two of them because everybody hates McKenzie at school. So she had no friends to join her party bus. And there's videos of the two of them in the party bus alone. And it looks like Dom is doing everything to make sure McKenzie is having a good time. He's singing for her.

He's trying to make her laugh. He's, you know, he's trying to uplift her mood. McKenzie says, everybody told us we look like movie stars that night. And if Dom ever hangs out with the boys without McKenzie, there's many a times where she gets so upset by that. She'll have these very smart Instagram DMs. Have fun with a dick in your ass. Bro time.

Like, if you think I give a single fuck about Blair, so Blair is Dom's best guy friend, okay? there was like a because Blair keeps coming up there was this misconception on TikTok that Blair was a girl that Dom was cheating on McKenzie with this is not true at all like Blair's a guy right and there is no indication that they were having any sort of romantic relationship right so just clearing the air on that but she's saying if you think I give a single fuck about Blair you're wrong it's okay though just deal with your super important bro time like are you actually fucking Blair do you want me to pull up to your fucking house right now with a fucking bat like fucking beat Blair's out. then he'll really be scared to come around. So be careful with who you choose first. Again, there's no indication whatsoever that Dom and Blair are romantically involved. Not saying that anything would be wrong if they were, but there's literally none. Even though McKenzie's overreaction of a message almost seems like something is happening,

no, she's just upset because he wants to hang out with his best friend. To which Dom tries to calm McKenzie down, I'm not choosing him first. McKenzie, ever so calm, ever the voice of reason responds, because I will fucking kill him on God. This is all because he makes plans with Blair, but McKenzie wanted him to cancel those plans because she suddenly decided she wanted to go out to eat with Dom. So Don reaches a compromise that he doesn't even need to compromise on,

but he offers, if you want to go out to eat, we can go in an hour. It's pretty simple. He's like, I'm not just going to cancel on Blair, but we can go out to eat in an hour. McKenzie responds, you're literally pathetic. His dick must be big if you like it that much. I'll just go with someone else. who actually wants to be around me and cares about my health.

Thanks for literally doing nothing. She's saying health because eating. Yeah. But it's like many of Dom's friends have reported that they don't really understand why Dom put up with McKenzie. They all thought that he could do way better with one of Dom's friends reporting to the police. One time we were in this candy shop and this was after they had gotten over arguing and everything like that. And she was like either buy me something or shut the fuck up. No one's trying to listen to you.

he says Don would always buy her designer and she would always post on her TikTok as if she bought the designer and she would call people out for like being broke. Side note, that seems to check out because in an Instagram DM exchange, McKenzie is arguing with another person and McKenzie is telling them, mind your business. And they come back responding. And so this doesn't seem like an internet hater. It seems like someone who knows McKenzie in real life. And they're responding. I'm just saying it isn't your money if you don't earn it yourself. I'm not trying to start shit.

I'm just so confused on how you talk shit on people being broke, but you flag. money that isn't yours and you didn't earn for real not trying to start shit so you don't even got to respond. Sorry, I was just confused and then realized you probably would take it the wrong way so I deleted it. Sorry, L.O.L. Like you can't say you're not broke if it's not your money. That's all I'm trying to get and everyone agrees with me. Like ask anyone, anyone who is real with you and honest will agree with me. And yeah, you're spoiled and that's fine. Just don't go around calling other bitches broke when you don't even have your own money yourself. Please be more self-aware and you say you hate fake friends, but every time I've been with you or hear

about you, you're talking shit about someone. It's just not a good look. Mackenzie responds something along the lines of like, yeah, go work your subway shift. Baby, you work at subway. You're not even close to being in my league. I need you to stop texting me right now. They stop texting her. So she hits them back with so that comment hit close to home for you, huh? And they respond, what comment, bro. All I'm trying to get at is reality. If you do not earn the money you spend, it's not your money. So don't go around saying you hate broke bitches. When in reality, if Dom or your parents left, you would be broke too. You depend on other people for money. And the fact that you say you hate fake friends, but 80% of the stuff that comes out of your mouth is talking shit about someone else. If you don't want fake friends, don't be fake yourself is all I'm trying to get at. Mackenzie never has a moment of self-reflection.

Because sometimes, like, you can get into fights, but still have a moment of like, maybe they're on to something. Maybe I should reflect. But she says, it's okay, babe. I would probably be mad if I was broke too. And she says, baby girl, and you just stop texting me. You're actually weirding me out.

Like we aren't friends and haven't been friends since the sophomore year. Now stop being worried about my life and go worry about your schedule for Subway next week. She's just kind of a bitch. I don't really know how else to put it. After this whole exchange, it appears McKenzie goes to rant to another friend about it

because she's DMing her friend about quote unquote the haters and the friend responds to her trying to comfort her. Ugly girls will never understand if you're pretty, you're never broke. So what if your boyfriend pays for you? If I was her boyfriend, I wouldn't pay for shit because damn, what the fuck is that? Talking about how the way that person looks. Mackenzie continues literally and she's trying to like talk shit on me like it's repulsive. Do you know how badly I wanted to say worry about your own weight instead of my pockets?

But I didn't want a body shame just in case I'm going to be famous soon and I can't be canceled. Ha ha ha ha ha ha that's insane Yeah Wait do you know when this was sent Like a few months before the crash She did become famous Yeah Mackenzie is also the type of girl that absolutely

Hates when people copy her Or even when she thinks people are copying her And she needs Dom to comfort her For the very big emotions that come with People copying her She says redacted got the same wheel cover as me Like you know the fucking pink fuzzy wheel cover Steering wheel cover?

Yeah. Mackenzie texts him so fucking weird. Like what the fuck? Question mark? Question mark. Dom is like, do you think she knew? She death knew. How did you even find out?

Even Chloe told me, I accidentally parked next to her LMAO. Like what the fuck? Dom is like she's probably going to be terrified. Because again, that's how terrifying McKenzie is. Just the fact that she found out that you have the same steering wheel cover and she's going to be terrified that she found out. At some point, I don't know if it's the same girl or another girl, but McKenzie is telling Dom that she wants to beat her up, to which he tells her

not to get in trouble. That's all he says. He's like, maybe not because you're going to get in trouble. Don't get in trouble. And she's upset. No, you were actually weird as fuck and do not talk to me. Dom's trying to explain, I just don't want you to get in trouble. He's like the voice of reason.

But McKenzie isn't having it. She feels like Dom worrying about her getting in trouble is, quote, let's not defend a fucking whore. You're actually weird as fuck. And you can go fuck her if you want to defend her. because I don't need nobody. I'm not defending her. It's weird as fuck. I mean, sure, she stocks you. Why are you going overboard on me? I just don't want you to get in trouble and I don't want you super worked up over that. Like she's obviously just super salty or jealous of

you or something anyway. It seems like at this point he's just trying to make her feel better. And she's like, and you obviously got something on your mind with them long pauses. We're just going to break up if I have to fight for you. What? Babe, I have no interest in her. I don't know why the bitch stalks you. What you low-key just defended her? So are you sure about that? I didn't defend her. I just didn't think you needed to fight her. A lot of conversations seem to end with Dom being the voice of reason and yet giving up near the end of the conversation because McKenzie will not see anything from any perspective that is not her own.

McKenzie is in my opinion about as agreeable as a fucking nuclear weapon. She starts messaging Dom on Instagram in the midst of a fight. If I fucking call you, you have three goddamn seconds to answer unless you're actually busy, which most of the time you're not. she continues to go off on him. You are literally a fucking idiot. You're about to lose the best thing that ever happened to you and you're never gonna find anything better

than some other cracked out bitch who just likes taking dick in her ass. You have until the end of day to actually fucking fix this and I'm not telling you how and if you don't fix it that I'm moving on with my life and I don't need you to be happy.

You have five seconds to say yes or no or I'm blocking you and moving on. Five, four, three, she's like sending separate messages. Five, four, four, she loves her countdowns. Five, four, three, two, Dom finally responds, let me type, damn. McKenzie responds in all caps.

I don't care. I'm so done with you. Type. Are you slow? Like, God damn. Question mark, question mark, question mark, question mark, question mark. So slow. It's going to be so hard to come back from this one,

especially since you like to lie and fake apologize just to get your way, literally a little boy. Like I thought you were a man. Clearly not. Dom is clearly confused because he doesn't know what's happening. He's like, because I didn't answer the phone. Like, I feel like you can't. believe that I don't have any bad intentions I fought for you so hard this past year. Are you for real?

Like, I know you didn't type that. In the five seconds I gave you, like, that's what you say? Are you for real? N-word. You have two seconds to send that text. It better be good, slow-ass N-word. Like, holy fuck. Dom finally responds.

You're flustering the shit out of me. It's hard to read all your messages and then send mine within five seconds. Like, damn, I don't care at all. Like you're crazy for thinking I have bad intentions. McKenzie responds in an almost unintentionally ironic way. In caps. You literally suck and just bring me down. I don't know.

So she's blowing up just that he didn't answer his phone right away? In three seconds. Yeah. Like she, well, she's blowing up for honestly like nothing ever. It could be anything. This is through Instagram DMs. So this is he wasn't responding through text in the way that she wanted.

So then now she's come to Instagram DMs and she's just like ranting. And usually like it takes a minute because they don't really give context to the fight obviously because they're texting each other. But then once you figure out what the fight is about, it's like absolutely over nothing. And so Dom is responding. I do everything for you. I ask for nothing. You bring me down.

You don't let me chase any of my dreams. You always say that you come first. McKenzie doesn't respond to any of the things that Dom is saying. She says, I'm going to give you till the end of the day to apologize and figure out what you did. if you don't actually make this up to me by the end of today and make it good and make me actually believe you, then we are done and I'm moving on with my life. Kenzie, it's not me.

I'm sorry, but it's not me anymore. You're doing this. You're making us break up. Yes, I know I'm doing this because I have standards unlike you. Now, this is your last chance because I will move on. If you think you're going to be anything without me, you are a joke. I would answer now. Kenzie, I'm not afraid of any of that anymore.

Like, I'm all or nothing. I love you. but I don't have to be with you if you're going to try to do this to me. Once again, she ignores him and writes back, or else you're going to get blocked and I'm going to start texting people. Kenzie, you can be with me or go? Is that your answer? So you're just not going to make this up to me by the end of the night?

I don't even know what I'm making up. This is ridiculous. Is that what you're saying? I'm an answer. Is that what you're saying? You haven't until 6 o'clock or you're blocked and we're done forever. I will literally burn that fucking scrapbook, zero fuck's given. I love you, but I'm not doing this.

This is crazy. I don't get it. Wow. Okay. We're done. Last chance. I've given you over three chances today. This is your last chance to make things right and make it up to me by six. Answer now, now, now. Dom is so genuinely confused by this. He asks her, did all my messages send? He literally, he's thinking maybe she's not getting his messages and that's why she's ignoring him and just freaking out unreasonably. McKenzie confirms yes or no, I don't give a fuck about your messages. Kenzie, I don't know what I'm I'm making up. Polly don't mean shit anyway. I don't care because you're dumb as fuck.

You have until six. I'm not telling you how to fix anything. You're saying I talked bad to you. Is that what I'm making up? Yes or no. Okay, you have until five now. Kinsey, yeah, I'll make up whatever, but I don't think any of this is really necessary.

Are you serious? Like, I know you didn't just say that. How fucking dumb can you be? This is a very small argument and you're putting our relationship over it. I don't get it. She later quotes him and says, because he said something along the lines of like, I don't think. She quotes, I don't think.

And she says, yeah, this is not about what you think. You're literally dumb as fuck. I feel so bad. How the fuck are you not getting that it's more than that and more than this? You lie, ignore, gaslight, dry reply. I can keep going. So she like throws out these words, but I don't find evidence of any gaslighting in the text messages and stuff. If anything, it's like miscommunication.

I really don't. I would watch her reply. I might. dry reply sometimes, four. So it went from six to five to four. She's like, you got to make it up to me by 4 p.m. now. If this isn't made up to me by 4 o'clock, we're done. This is my last text message.

He's like, I don't gaslight. I don't do any of that. I never intentionally ignore you. 4.30. Dom responds, this can't be every week, babe, indicating that this happens every week. And after reading all their text messages, it's like multiple times a week, actually.

It's really bad. She responds, you're right. Next time you do this, We're done no explanations. He's trying to get it through to her. Like, I feel like you don't feel I love you. What the fuck are you talking about? Look, Kensi, this shouldn't end our relationship.

All I'm saying is, like, I'll do whatever to make you happy. But I feel like you're being unreasonable today because of your stress over your toe and your nose and school. So, like, I don't know what happened. This is me saying this. Like, I don't know what happened. But, like, these seem like non-problems. Your toe, your nose. Like, unless you broke your nose.

like why is she freaking out on it? It's so weird. If this isn't made up correctly by 4 o'clock, I'm blocking you and we are done forever. Your attitude will change. Your attitude needs to change, babe. We're broken up until you decide what you're going to do to fix this. If the timer hits 4 o'clock and nothing has happened, we are done.

Your attitude needs to change and I'll change whatever. I know you didn't just say that. This is about you. You called me with a bad attitude first, babe. do you want me to break up with you for good right now? Because that could happen too. And then McKenzie, mass text him, do you want me to break up with you for good right now?

Do you want me to break up with you for good right now? Do you want me to break up with you for good right now? Do you want me to break up with you for good right now? She sends that four times. I'm not repeating it for emphasis. She literally sends the exact same message four times. And he tells her, you're being childish. I'm not entertaining it.

So we're done? Is that what you're saying? You're not going to make this up to me by four o'clock? We're just going to go through the cycle. If you do not answer the fucking question, you are blocked and I'm going to start texting new people. like I'm so serious. Clearly you don't even want a girlfriend. Five, four, three, two, one. Dom responds, why are you doing this? Like, I don't get it. I mean, we can make it three. Like, this isn't love.

If this is made up to me by three o'clock, if it's not, we're done. This isn't healthy. This isn't right. Like, we can make it so much better than this. You're right. We can make it so much better after you make it up to me at three o'clock and prove you're going to do better. Until then, we are broken up. I would watch what you say from this point on because one thing that I said wrong will an instant blocking and I will literally start talking to new people. Dom doesn't respond for an hour before McKenzie DMs him again. I'm going to take this as you're not making this up to me. Answer right now.

Answer right now. Kenzie, if you want to be in my life, you will be. If you want to leave, I'm not stopping you. So you're not going to change your attitude and make it up to me? So you're not going to make it up to me? Yes or no. Kenzie, you have a bad attitude too. It's a yes or no question.

It's a yes or no question. And this is about you, not me. Kenzie, no, this is about you and you're making it about me. You have a bad attitude, babe. You called me with a bad attitude first, and I'm not doing this anymore. I love you, but I have to set boundaries for myself too. This is February 20th, 2022. Five months later, Dom will be dead.

Now, I'm not singling out this like one toxic fight that happened months in advance where McKenzie is clearly suffocating Dom over and over again, not respecting his boundaries. but I'm emphasizing that this happens multiple times a week. Like even, okay, when you go to part four where we go through the text messages, it would be like a five-day long video for me to recount in full every single fight that McKenzie starts. April 2020, for example, it happens all over again. And this is just from their Instagram DMs, okay, because the text messages are in part

four. This is from their DMs. April 2022, it starts all over. Dom resorts to DMing her because she blocked his. text from coming in and he's confused. Which side note, all of this is happening because Dom did not jump at his feet, jump up, enthusiastic about wanting to take McKenzie to the grocery store. She says, I want to go with you, but I want you to try without me telling you you have to

try. You only try when it's too late? So now it's too late. He responds, when was I not trying? We've been doing this all day. I don't care. No, you have not. Why would I want to be around you after you?

you just did all this bullshit all day. What have I done? I've only apologized over and over again all day while you called me names. You have two minutes to be at my house to take me to the grocery store. 60 seconds. 45 seconds. Okay, I'll be on the way in a sec. Then he DMs again.

On the way. Then he DMs when he shows up at her house. Here. Even just two months before Dom and Davy on are killed, they're in another fight through Instagram. And sign note, by this point, McKenzie is essentially living with Don. She's 17, her parents have let her move in, but this fight, Dom tells her, Kenzie, I'm not going to talk to you until you acknowledge what you did wrong.

And side note, I don't want anyone to be under the impression that I'm taking creative liberty in the tone of Dom's voice because there is a video fight of them. And most people say that Dom was like a very chill speaker. He never is yelling, screaming. Kenzie is always yelling, screaming. So it's not that like I'm trying to phrase. Dom's voice to be more passive. Like there's a literal fight where she is outside banging on his door.

And this is how he talks. This is his cadence. He's always trying to diffuse. He's never flipping out. There's one part where he does raise his voice at McKenzie. And McKenzie intentionally records it. But it almost seems like the man is so frustrated. Like he's like, he's like, stop.

Like don't stop. Don't talk. Like you're saying disrespectful shit. Like stop. But this fight, it appears that he does not want Kenzie at his house. house because she's being rude and mean to him, which is completely understandable and a healthy boundary to set. But she argues that he's holding his house over her head and she's not going to let him

do that. Which side note, she does not pay rent. This is not her house. She doesn't pay mortgage. She's not on the title of the deed. It's also not like he kicked her out out of nowhere. She could literally just go home to her parents where she should probably be living. McKenzie escalates the fight. I'll come today and take all the shit I got right out of that house. So she's like, fine. I'm moving up for good. Kenzie, I'm not doing anything. Like you have been being mean to me and have not stopped since this morning. All you have to do is apologize to me about how you're saying hurtful things. I'm done listening to this bullshit and I'll talk to you when you're in a better state.

And no, Kenzie, I'm not holding anything over your head. I don't want you here if you're acting like this. So you're saying that I'm not allowed to come to the place I sleep at every night? No, Kenzie. I told you that you can talk to me when you say sorry and coming here as part of it. So you're holding it over my head is what you're saying. If you can't apologize or realize what you did wrong, I don't want you around me. What we're not going to do is hold the place that you say I could stay out whenever I want over my head.

She starts a video chat. He does not pick up. McKenzie goes off, to which Dom says, Kenzie, I just don't want you to come here and have problems. I'm doing the mature thing and avoiding petty conflict. And if you cared, you would have stopped too. Kenzie does not listen. He's trying to de-escalate.

She says, we're not going to play this game. I'm not letting you hold a place that I live in over my head. You don't even care enough to be replying fast. No, Kenzie, I don't want you here because I don't want conflict and you never said sorry either. I'm not going to apologize for doing nothing and I want to come over to eat, not to talk to you. I'm just going to sit on the couch and ignore you,

but there's you holding it over my head again. You can let me come over and eat or you can bring me all the stuff that I brought over to your house and we can be over. Approximately three minutes go by. Dom hasn't responded. So McKenzie writes, not sure why you're being dry and not responding.

Dom responds, I mean, you did call me the R word, called me a pig, said a lot of nasty things, and now you want to come eat my food without apologizing. Let me know if you're going to keep holding it over my head or not because I will just get all the pots and pans and stuff I bought to your house right now. I'm not trying to hold it over your head. If you can't respect me, how do I expect you to respect my house? He says that there's still coffee on his door from her,

which seems like he's saying like she threw coffee. and there's coffee on the door. But she ignores that and says, like I said, I will come get everything that I brought over and holes in my wall. The holes in your wall are not from me. So are you not letting me come?

What does holes in the wall mean? Punch? Yeah. Or like throwing things, I would imagine. Yeah. And so Dom says, if you can't prove to me, you're going to respect me

and my home, or at least, the very least, apologize. I don't want you here. Like, if you want me to leave your things outside, I will. to which Kenzie says, you can put everything in a box then. If you're not going to let me come to the place that you said I could always come,

then put everything that I brought in a box and I'm coming to get it. If you're not going to let me stay at this house, then we are done. I'm not going to be in a relationship with somebody that likes to lie and tell me things that are not true. You are making this so much worse. Is this not what gas lighting is? Yes. And like, I do think sometimes. How is that like, how does she put it on him?

Like someone gave you a place to stay. Now she turn it around, make it. I don't know. That's holding it over her. her head. That's gas lighting. Yeah. It's very manipulative.

I think sometimes I do have the problem with a lot of these encounters between Kenzie and Dom being categorized as toxic in the sense that I do think that if the roles were reversed, I don't know if we would be labeling these fights as toxic. I think we would be much more easily labeling them as completely abusive. Like it's just really abusive. There's not really a lighter way to put it. And so Dom responds, Kenzie, you are. Like all that was needed was a simple apology.

You're not making the right decisions or acting normal. So what's it going to be? So are you not going to let me come to the place that you said I could always come? Is that what you're saying? You're treating me like shit. Stop. Asking you questions or treating you bad? What the actual fuck?

Like Dom is like, what the actual fuck? This is your last chance to let me come and eat or you can put all my stuff in a bin and I'll come get it right now. I would answer right now. She starts a video chat that goes unanswered. She calls again and again and again and again and again. she DMs Dom, you just fucked up. Another video chat goes unanswered.

You have three seconds to answer or I'm coming. Of course you would rather me starve. He keeps telling her she's being toxic, but she keeps calling, typing, I would answer right now. Dom seemingly begs her, quote, stop. You dead ass have 20 seconds.

This is why I'm not letting you come. You're threatening and shit. Another video chat, then another, then another, then another. She calls eight times back to back to back to back. He does not respond. And then she tells him. him. Okay, I'm gonna come. He doesn't respond to more video chats. She says, I would answer right now. Like, I really don't want to end this relationship, but you are not a good person. You treat me like fucking shit. I need water and food and you're not letting me eat. You are starving me. You would rather me starve. I'm so serious when I say answer. Kenzie, stop. Please. I'll bring you food and water. So she's at her parents house. Now, McKenzie has somehow made this about starving. What do you mean? Like you're at home. You have fucking food and water. What are you saying? Exactly.

So he's like, I don't want to be around you because we're going to get into a fight. But I will bring you food and water because you're accusing me of starving you. Like I will drive to your house, even though you don't deserve it and you haven't even apologized. I'll bring you food and water. And then I just need some alone time because the situation's only going to escalate. So he's like willing to do all of this and still deescalate. I mean, again, if the roles were reversed, this is like frankly a terrifying relationship dynamic that is just abusive. Dom offers to bring food, water,

Kenzie just gets racist instead. She writes to him, you need to answer right now, NWord. I do not want to be here. So she's talking about she doesn't want to be home at her parents. What are you not getting? You know that. Which side note,

a lot of people have interpreted that perhaps there was some sort of abuse going on in McKenzie's house. I really, going through the whole FOIA file, there's no way to definitively say that that's not what's happening, but I don't think so. She genuinely hates her parents for, zero reasons. Like sometimes it'll be my dad woke me up because he was playing the TV so loud. Is he fucking R-worded? Like she'll literally be texting down that. So where is the parents? How did she become this way? This is crazy. Yeah. And again, like when she is saying in caps, I don't want to be here. I know that a lot of us may be from a point of empathy or trying to give people benefit of the doubt or trying to protect people who are 17. It's like, oh, maybe something is going on in the house and she's expressing herself in this really aggressive manner. because she just frantically needs to leave. That does not appear to be the case.

Like she genuinely hates her parents because they eat McDonald's. She thinks they're slabs. She doesn't like the fact that her dad plays the TV too loud. He's so dense. Is he slow? Like she's just, yeah. There's a whole birthday debacle we're going to go into later. She is like so adamant that she wants to go to Florida for her birthday.

I'm just going to be a recap because it's so crazy. She's so adamant that she's going to go to Florida for her birthday. But there's a hurricane coming to Florida. because it's Florida. And she's like, yeah, I don't care. I'm just pissed off. She has her entire family and Dom scrambling to figure out where to go next to make McKenzie happy. And she's like, you guys are going to fucking fix this vacay.

And she's like, she's going off on them. And she's like, Dom, you're going to book me a ticket to Cali right now and fix my birthday vacay. And they're all just like trying to make her happy. The parents are too? Yeah. Why? Feats me. I mean, they're just straight enablers.

they're so incompetent as parents. If I was the president, if I ran this world, I feel like they could even be criminally liable in my fake universe because how do you raise someone like this? Yeah, it should be a crime to be this bad of a parent. I think it's like worse. It's like similar to neglect. Like you are neglecting their capabilities of growing up

to be a good contributing member of society. It's just so messed up. So then she's just responding like, what are you not getting? You know that. He responds then stop being toxic. She does not think that these two things are connected. She writes in all caps,

I do not want to be here, so you're going to starve me. Is that what you're saying? Stop being toxic and I'll let you come. He finally tells her, I'm done. So she goes off. Then please just break up with me then. If you're going to sit here and let me beg you for food and water,

then break up with me because any good man would never do this to his girlfriend. I would answer right now. You're making this so bad for yourself. Kenzie, now you're being toxic. I said I'd bring you food and water, but instead you're trying to make it about bringing all your other stuff. I do not want to be here. Why are you not getting that?

You didn't let me apologize on the phone and you didn't apologize sincerely to me. Tom is like, I just need 20 minutes. Just give me 20 minutes and stop being toxic and we can talk again on the phone if you apologize and I can let you come over. But instead you just spam me for the last 20 minutes being toxic as fuck. She says, if you're not going to let me come over here, then I'm going to bring all the stuff that I brought home. It's our house.

You always say that. letting you hold it over my head when I put in the work to the house too. I'm allowed to go over there and eat when all the food that I like is over there. You're holding this over my head. You're still being toxic. I would literally let you come over right now if you would just stop saying all this toxic shit and just leave it alone for a second and let me brush my teeth and then just call you back and apologize. It's all you had to do. You still have to apologize also. I'm not being toxic. I'm telling you what you're doing. Why would I keep bringing pots and pans and stuff for your house over if you're going to hold it over my head and not let me there. Stop. It just doesn't make sense. You expect

all this good when you treat me like shit. You're still doing it. You won't stop. Like, what the fuck? And you're still not apologizing. Dom seems frustrated. He just tells her, let me just bring you food. I do not want to be here. Can you not read? And if you still want me to bring other shit, I'll bring it later. Like, she responds, why are you not understanding that I do not want to be here? then stop being toxic and arguing with me. I'm going to come over or this relationship is going to be over. I'm not letting you do this to me. Just let me cool down.

Just let it cool down for 10 minutes and then apologize. You're not going to hold over a house that we built together over my head. What? Yeah, she's acting like she's fucking Martha stewarding this house. Like she's done nothing. She also, like she never cleans. She lives like a slob. Everyone has not testified, but they have spoken up about how she's a slob.

Dom tells her, like I'm asking for the bare minimum. McKenzie responds, and I'm asking for literally one peach and water, but you can't even let me come eat. Dom responds in all caps, stop. Why is this making you so mad? I can't ask for food now. So now she's acting like he's like this

threatening abusive person who's like controlling what she eats. I'm about to be done texting you. I told you so many times I'll bring you a peach and water. And if you really want, I can bring the rest of the stuff later, but instead you're trying to say I'm holding my house and food over your head when I'm really not. You just can't respect me and can't stop arguing and being toxic.

That's why I'm not letting you over. This is when she finally apologizes a little bit. Not really. She says, obviously, I'm sorry for calling you names. My life was literally going to shit and so many things were happening, which obviously you don't care about. I didn't mean anything that I called you because you didn't mean what you said. I'm not being toxic and I'm respecting you. I've done nothing disrespectful except ask you for food.

You're still not understanding that I do not want to be here, and you're still offering to bring me food somewhere where I don't want it when I could literally come there and eat. Why are you doing this? You were treating me like fucking shit right now. If this old pattern is going to keep happening, then I don't know if I can do this anymore. Dom tries to set boundaries,

which like that was not even an apology, by the way. Okay, Dom tries to set boundaries for the trillionth time. You were being toxic by forcing me to do things. I wasn't forcing you to do anything. You could have just let me come over and all of this would have been chill. Like, I need food and water so bad you don't even care. Don responds with what McKenzie was forcing him to do.

He says, you're not letting me get off the phone, not apologizing when I said that all you had to do to come over was just apologize or leave me alone for a little bit to cool down. But instead, you said, you can't apologize. And then you said that I have to bring you all your things when I said that I could bring you a peach and water. But I was only saying that because you were going to apologize. See, you're making it a loop because every single time

I was telling you to apologize. You were saying no. then I was saying, well, let me bring you food and water and a peach. And then you were saying, oh, I'm holding the house over your head. I'm holding food over your head. What all I wanted was an apology so that, you know, for you to just come from you to keep saying, but then you keep saying, I don't care that you just need food and water. But I've been trying to bring it to you this whole time and you just keep arguing with me.

See how you're still being toxic? So he's like finally like letting it out. Okay. He's like, we're just going in a loop. And I think that's why the message is so confusing because he's like, I'm living in a loop. I don't even know what's going on. Like, this is what you're forcing me to do. And after all of that, because he's like, all I wanted was an apology.

Like, that's the crux of his feeling. He's like, I just want you to apologize for being toxic. Which is completely reasonable. McKenzie responds. Did you not read my apology? Like, what the fuck? Like, why are you acting like I didn't apologize when I literally just said? She sends a screenshot of her half-assed apology just two seconds ago and then sends it to him.

You could have just read that and understood, but I guess not. Dumb is so confused. he says, you didn't read anything I said. You apologize for calling me names and then continue to be toxic. So you're not going to let me come over now when I literally apologized? Dom clearly doesn't feel heard and his boundaries are still being crossed. He writes, quote, you apologize and are still toxic. She flips out.

Like, what is going on? Why aren't you letting me come and eat? She keeps doing this until finally he texts her. Fine, come eat. Are you sure? Yeah, just don't be toxic. I was never holding anything over your head. I said I'd bring you food and water.

I said leave me alone for a second. Apologize and you could come over too, but you didn't leave me alone. I do appreciate the apology you did make, though. It's not about who's right or wrong. It's about understanding and growth. This is what Dom says, and this is from May 23rd, 2022, just two months before Dom is killed. Since Davion is no longer 18 years old,

his parents felt that he was ready to be taken off their Life 360 app, which is the app like your parents can track the kids locations whether or not they're speeding or they're driving or if they're in the car right now or if they're walking but instead of just getting rid of the app altogether davion instead connects it to his friend group so he has a tight close-knit group of friends and they all share each other's life 360 apps i guess it's like you know find my friends you just want to make sure everybody's safe you want to track everybody's locations make sure that everybody is i think the idea is very responsible now july 31st 2022 at 940s 3.m. Davyon's friends are on the Life 360 app and they're confused because they see Davyon's location is heading towards the Strongsville police station. But they're like, okay, well, maybe he's just heading in that general direction. It doesn't necessarily mean he's going to the police station, right? Within a few minutes, Davian's location shows that he is inside the Strongsville police station, or at least his phone is. And they're like, this is really odd. Like, why would Davion be at the police station at 10 in the morning? Like, this is so weird. They check his life 360 history and they

notice there is this weird incident that happened at 5.30 a.m. At 5.30 a.m. They get an alert and it shows Davion's phone location heading down Progress Drive. Progress Drive is technically officially called Progress Drive Business Park because it's basically a commercial road. I don't even know if commercial is the right word. It's more so industrial. So you drive down progress and it's just a ton of these light industrial warehouses. I feel like you've all seen those like business parks where you've, You've got the flex office spaces and then you've got the warehouses. You see lots of big trucks driving through that road.

It's not massive Amazon level warehouses, but it's also not corporate in the sense of like, oh, this is our corporate location where we invite clients over. Like you're going to see a lot of manufacturing companies, pipeline businesses, plumbing businesses have locations down here like ICI metals, Rafter Equipment Corporation, pipeline development company. Like they all have buildings along Progress Drive. It's just warehouses and their parking lots. There's no residential homes, no shops that you can stop in and grab a coffee, no pedestrians.

It's just an industrial road. Why would Davion be there at 535 in the morning? With an alert on Life 360 showing high speed alert, with the top speed at 90 miles per hour. And the Life 360 app shows that Davian's location is stopped for a point in time at one of the warehouse buildings, specifically the pipeline development company. It almost looks like he's gone into the building with. his phone. Why would Davion be in this random warehouse building at 535 a.m.? And now a few hours later, he's just heading to the Strongsville police station. Davian's friends are really confused. They're trying to

like in real time piece together what's going on because they're like, what's happening? 6.15 a.m. A. A.m. A. A.1-1 call is made. There's a car that smashed up against the building. I didn't go up to it because I was on my motorcycle. I don't know if I'd get stuck, but they ran the curb. I can see they smash the sign and hit the building. The car is trashed. That's the direct 911 call. When the first responding officer arrives at the end of progress drive, so this is kind of a dead end zone. Progress drive, you make a right turn from the main road of Pearl and you make a right turn onto progress, or at least that's what McKenzie did. And it's like this half mile drive. Some people call it like a straight shot, but it's not really. There are gentle curves along this

road and the road is pretty fucked up. I mean, it's an industrial road. First of all, it's actually one of the older roads in the city, but it's an industrial road. So you have lots of heavy trucks and machinery driving past it. So the concrete on the pavement is not very level. And I guess the city is thinking, well, we don't really have a lot of people driving through this. This is like an industrial area and it's probably going to get messed up anyway. So they haven't really fixed it. So it's kind of a bumpy drive. It's not a drive where you can just kind of wing it. It's like you'd want to have good control over your car. Now, at the very end of progress drive, there is like a dead end. So you keep driving down progress and then you're going to see grass, a sign for the pipeline company, and then the

red brick building. When you get there on the road, you can make a right or a left. So it's a T intersection. Oh, I see. But you cannot keep going straight because that's where the red brick building is. But that is what McKenzie's Black Toyota has done. It has gone straight, essentially flying through the building sign through the grass and jamming the car straight into the corner of this warehouse building. The car looks obliterated. You can hear the officer, the first responding officer through the body cam, starting to freak out and he's going straight into work. He is booking it to the car as quickly as he can. He's panting. And as he's running through the grass, you see that there's just massive chunks of this car and debris scattered all around.

The car accident looks, not accident, the car crash, looks less like a car crash. I say accident because he doesn't know what's going on. So to him, like he's responding to a car accident. It looks like a bomb went off. The car looks like it exploded. The only way to convey the extent of the car's state through words is it looks like the front passenger side of the car had been run through a hydraulic press. It's just like smash, disintegrated.

The officer radio is in for backup. Radio, there's a car split in. radio, there's an occupant inside. So he notices the driver first because naturally that's the first place you look for an occupant. Send us some squad now. We got to bust the window out. Send us some more units. This is not a fresh accident either.

She's been here for a while. He sees initially just one person in the car. Then he radios again. We got at least two occupants in here. No one's moving. Oh my God. Oh my God. Times three.

Radio three occupants. No one's conscious. No one's breathing. And they start freaking out. They're like trying to bust the window. There's banging. He's banging. he's like screaming who can hear my voice radio we're going to need full extraction all three

and he's saying like holy shit this is bad guys they're all pretty young now upon first glance the front passenger side where dom was sitting has a lot of the impact there's a video of the car and this is the video is taken after the car is taken to a separate lot and the front of the car i was almost confused like am i being shown the wrong car like are they going to move to show me the black toyota because the front of the car looks white because it's not like it's a half paint job it's the front of the car had been disintegrated where all you can see is metal that's it the officer doesn't have anything hard to smash open the windows like multiple units arrive and they're just like trying they're even thinking like do we use our gun like we need to get in here they can't get the window open eventually they jam it open and once they get into the car they can quickly tell that two of them are not going to make it i know that there is um speculations theories online that Davion was alive at the time of the unit's arrival. It seems like that is not accurate by all accounts.

Dom and Davion were confirmed DOA dead on arrival by the officers. First responding officer later says in a less panicked and more somber tone, like, we got two that are gone. Jesus Christ, like this is probably the worst I've ever seen. He's trying to explain to the new officers that are showing up. It's like a nightmare. I ran up. I go, this is bad. I ran up. I saw one. I called her in. I looked in the back. There's two. I call it in. And then you see three and you're like, Jesus, and no one's fucking moving. At some point, the officers find an ID and realize that the individual in the backseat is Davy on. And I don't know how this officer knows. Maybe he has a kid the same age, or maybe he's just very involved in high school sports. But he says he's a fucking Strongsville football player. And so they mentioned that he's, a running back and the officer walks to the back seat of the car and taps on the metal and says, rest in peace, buddy.

The first responders, they arrive and they inform the other officers at the scene, contacted the corner, they're on their way out. And just to add to the chaos, you know, there's wind and debris being thrown about because a life flight has landed to take the only person that has a pulse into this flying ER to the hospital. Now, the day after the crash, police are knocking on the door to the hospital room. with the only survivor, and that is Mackenzie Sherilla. She has three broken ribs, a lacerated liver, kidney, damaged arteries, a broken femur above the knee. Her legs and arms are encased.

She has neck brace on. She does objectively look messed up, but she's alive. She's the only one from the car that is alive. And by this point, her parents have told her, they say that they told her that her boyfriend, Dom and Davion, had been killed. McKenzie's parents say that after getting out of surgery in the middle of the night, McKenzie asked, where's Dom? They didn't really think that there was a way to calm her down, so they tell her, and she's just screaming, it's not him, it's not him.

Then she asked about Davian, and they say that she learns that he didn't make it, and she was just sobbing, oh God, oh God. But the officers aren't really interested in any of that. They want to know what the hell happened in that car, because it doesn't make any sense. They were able to pull CCTV camera footage from a nearby warehouse that shows the black Toyota that McKenzie is driving. There's sound to the CCTV. and it sounds like a missile and you hear the crash.

I will say that there are TikToks going around, that they enhance the audio and you can hear one of the boys screaming McKenzie, no, that does not appear to be true at all. It would have been in the police reports. It would have been talked about during the trial. But you can hear the car and it's going fast and you hear it crash. It sounds bad. There is no feasible reason that the officers can think of

of what would cause McKenzie to drive in this manner. Like, this is not a road that is easy to speed on. It's an industrial road with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Not saying that you can't speed over the speed limit, but it's like a pretty bumpy road. So one of the officers actually got into his cruiser, and he went around 55 in his cruiser. And he said, like the wheel was shaking.

Because, like I said, the road, the concrete is kind of messed up. It's an industrial road. So he's like to be able to maneuver, because it's not like they were going all over the place. It's like a straight shot missile. It's not like she's driving and swerving and hitting things and hitting the curb and then slamming into the building. It's like it almost looks like you'd have to be pretty in control of the vehicle, which also they think that means if someone blacked out or passed out or were so drunk, this is not a road that you can maneuver before straight shotting it into the building. They're like if she was drunk on progress, she would have hit something else first.

Oh. Because it's like a, there's like this gentle curse. Driving is what they're saying. And they pull another version of CCTV camera. So remember, Pearl is the main road of Strongsville. Progress, you turn right. So you're on Pearl, then you make a right on to progress. They pull CCTV camera from that road.

And McKenzie, when she does that right turn, her blinkers on, she slows down, and she has a controlled right turn. And then within the span of like half a mile, suddenly she loses control, loses control of the car, and then speed shots it. almost 100 miles per hour straight into the building. So like nothing makes sense. I think initially when the police got there,

they're thinking, okay, young kids, we found shrooms on McKenzie. They found a quartz Ziploc bag of shrooms on McKenzie's person, along with a digital scale. So they're thinking maybe this is impaired driving. But when they get all the CCTV camera, they're like, that doesn't make sense.

How are you driving completely normally and completely safe? And then all of a sudden, you cannot drive. With the argument essentially being, okay, so if McKenzie is impaired, she's somehow managing to drive with the skill of like an F1 driver straight into a building. So the police believe that rules out the fact that she could be impaired, though they do do a toxicology report or test just to make sure.

And more on that in a second. But later, McKenzie and her parents, as well as her defense attorney, will argue that McKenzie was impaired, just not by drugs, not by anything that's going to show up in the toxicology. They argue that McKenzie was diagnosed with pots, which can cause someone to faint. I will note that not everyone diagnosed with pots faints. It's actually, like this is a very misrepresented diagnosis. In fact, that's a point of frustration with a lot of people who are diagnosed with pots

is that everyone assumes that they pass out when it's not even part of the diagnostic criteria. Diagnostic criteria typically rests entirely on heart rate response, not fainting. Fainting, however, is a possible symptom, but not everyone with Pots faints. In fact, it's considered kind of like a rare event. It's been described as a disorder where it just feels like you're going to faint and you might faint. It is, you know, life altering, but it's not like, oh, everyone with Pots is fainting all the time and like they shouldn't be behind the wheel. Like it's not this like, oh my gosh, so scary, you're going to die. and like everyone, you can't be behind a car.

The hallmark for pots is more so a heart rate increase of at least 30 beats per minute in adults within the first 10 minutes of standing up or a head up tilt. It's very much based on standing up. That's like a huge thing with pots. It's, okay, so a lot of it is centered around when someone without pots, I guess like if you and I were not diagnosed with pots,

we stand up. Gravity pulls 10 to 15% of blood into the stomach and the legs. The body will compensate, by tightening the blood vessels and modestly adjusting the heart rate. For people with pots, the blood vessels will not tighten. So blood, you know, pools below the heart and in an attempt to overcorrect because the body doesn't really, like, they're like, whoa, what's going on? Then the body will flood their system with norephenephrine and epinephrine.

So the heart is just getting epinephrine and norephrenephren and doesn't really know why. So naturally it causes the heart rate to shoot up abnormally. So, you know, that's like they might get lightheaded dizziness more so than just like, oh, I'm a little dizzy, right? Potts is a life-altering diagnosis, and I'm not trying to say like, oh, this is not serious. But it's not considered life-threatening. There are no deaths attributed directly to Potts. I think that's a huge thing that people in the Potts community feel like the stigma is a lot, especially with driving. And I was actually on the Potts subreddit, and they really hate, really hate McKenzie, it seems.

because a lot of them, most of them have been diagnosed with pots for decades. A lot of them say they've never fainted. And they actually, it was like very annoying because when people find out they have pots, it's always like, how can you dare drive? Like it's, there's so many misconceptions about pots. And it's just not, they feel it's not true. So that's not to say that people with pots don't faint. They absolutely can and do.

And it can be life altering when they faint because typically the biggest practical danger of pots is injury from fainting. So like you faint, you fall and you hit your head. Now it does appear that the general public does just think it's a fainting disease, which doesn't seem to be the case at all. But it's also a condition where you could have been diagnosed, gone years without fainting, and then you suddenly faint. It is entirely possible. Does that mean that that's what happened in this case? Most people don't think so for a lot of reasons that we're going to dive deeper in a separate episode, but I'm just going to give you a little bit right now. So interestingly enough, a lot of people with pots thinks that this whole thing is ridiculous.

Okay. Even the way that McKenzie's mom talks about pots in court later during McKenzie's trial, she calls pots a blood pressure condition, which inherently is not true. So when your blood pressure drops, that's when people faint. Fainting can be a symptom for some people with pots, but the condition itself is not a blood pressure condition. It's like more a heart rate condition. So it's just like people are like, how can you say that your daughter is diagnosed with pots and that's what caused this fatal crash, but you sound so uneducated about pots. Like if this was truly a condition that was life altering

enough for McKenzie to get diagnosed with it and then later, according to them, get into a fatal car accident, killing two people in the car because of pots, you would think her mother would know a bit about pots. But she calls it a blood pressure condition in court, which is inherently not true. Blood pressure again plays a role, but it's not a blood pressure condition. If you go on the Pots subreddit, you'll actually see a lot of people who argue that had this been a pot's related episode, it's more likely that her body would go limp rather than floor the pedal all the way straight into the wall. So they're saying like when you faint, it's more likely with pots that your body goes limp. I see. One person literally comments, she's so fucking stupid. If this

were a Pots episode, the exact opposite would happen. There are also speculations that her diagnosis could have come from the fact that she was engaged in super heavy, drug use and she does appear to be low on the BMI scale. So feeling lightheaded upon standing is not always pots. It could be because you're malnourished or your BMI is too low. It could be heavy drug usage. It could be low iron. It could be lots of things.

But again, like with pot's diagnosis, that's why a lot of people, again, are in the community upset. There's a lot of specific criteria. Usually the gold standard is a tilt test. They like strap you to this board and they put you in a direction which would simulate standing up. And they keep you there for like 10 minutes while they're watching your heart rate and all of these things. But she gets diagnosed in 2017 because she apparently like fainted in the kitchen. Her mom takes her to the Cleveland Clinic and she's prescribed salt tabs and is diagnosed with pots.

And then it just seems like nothing ever happens. Like they don't get followups. They don't do further diagnosis. testing, at least that it's not revealed in court. I don't have her medical records, but I would assume that the defense would have used it. In fact, I also think it's weird that the defense, if they really were trying to argue this whole POTS thing, why don't you just strap her up to the tilt test board? Why don't you like definitively proof?

Because Natalie Shurilla didn't even know the diagnosing physician. She's like, I don't even know what doctor it was. Like there was no upkeep in this POTS diagnosis. There was nothing. And then also it's the fact that people were saying, okay, so she fainted once in the kitchen and this is not to comment on people's weights, but she does seem probably very low on the BMI scale to the point where some doctors may be alarmed

that could cause lightheadedness, that could cause fainting. She is engaging in heavy drug use. It could be a wide variety of reasons, and her mom gets her diagnosed with pots, right? So it's just like, and if that were all true, if this is the case, McKenzie faints in the kitchen, her mom gets her diagnosed with pots, and her mom still let her have a car while smoking weed with pots is, I mean, that would be a huge

problem because not because people with pots cannot drive because they absolutely can and just as safely as any other law abiding citizen without pots. But McKenzie is 17. Her mom says she's fainting in the kitchen. Her parents know she partakes in an ungodly amount of smoking weed. And she's trying to like make the plant go extinct. Like that's how much she's trying to smoke weed. And she likes to drive while high on weed.

I would imagine like that's a huge problem if you're letting your daughter do that. And another thing is if the gibberish speak, the Carney speak in the hospital room is to be believed, the fact that she was speaking in what her dad, you know, describes to be Carney allegedly saying, can we just tell them that I had a seizure? Seizures and pots are not even the same thing. Like these are entirely different things. Seizures and fainting due to pots are not the same. We can't just fucking make pasta and see what sticks to the whole.

wall. A lot of comments on the Pots subreddit are along the lines of like, genuinely made me so mad. I feel like her claims are just adding to the misconceptions about Pots. How in the world would a Pots episode make you push harder on the gas? Such absolutely bullshit and I'm glad she's in jail. Another one reads, amazing how fainting and losing consciousness can perfectly keep the car steered and accelerated. For sure. Another says, my jaw hit the floor when she said it was a medical event due to Pots. Only people with Pots would know that's not how it works. People have also noted that during the trial during high stress situations with likely dehydration and other things playing into the mix. She never asked for a break because she felt like she was fainting, which is

reasonable and expected for someone with pots. So because like your heart rate goes up when you're stressed and high cortisol and, you know, she's sitting in the courtroom on trial. She's probably not drinking a ton of water, dehydration. And she never asked like the judge for a moment because she feels like faint and lightheaded. You know, there's lots of moments where she's standing, sitting, Judge walks in, she stands. Like, there's not, like, suddenly nothing matters. You only had pots in that, like, two minutes in the car.

They also argue that medical records after she's lifelighted don't match someone with pots, that after being pulled out of that car with all the other factors, her blood pressure was qualitatively described as elevated when she's pulled from the crash. Now, I will say they are pulled from the crash way later from the actual accident, but some people have argued, like, POTS would cause, if you fainted, it would be low blood pressure, not high blood pressure, but she had elevated blood pressure. She also had a normal heart rate and ECG showing normal electrical heart function, which probably wouldn't happen, they think in a POTS episode within like even an hour. Like POTS episode, all of that physical

trauma and then your heart rate is normal. Like they just don't think that makes sense. And also, when they extract her from the car, it's like a posterior condition, so she's being moved. So that would mean if she does have pots, her heart rate should go up because she's going from sitting to probably at least some form of like her. She's moving. Now, it's interesting to note that her defense did not bring an expert to testify about McKenzie's pots and how she could have fainted while operating the vehicle. Some people believe it was a genuine accident and people who believe it was not have mixed reasonings as to why the defense did not bring in an expert during the trial. We're to get into it in a second. I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself, but we're going to cover it

thoroughly later. So the first theory that police had was that McKenzie was high and impaired while driving, but it just doesn't make sense with all the CCTV footage they're getting. Very early on, McKenzie's mom is saying things like, oh, she has pots. She has pots like in the hospital. So she's like, oh, maybe it was the pots, right? And the police are like, well, that doesn't seem to be the case either. Like, we don't really think that's what happened either. So the police get the black box data from the vehicle and according to the reports it reads, the Toyota averaged approximately 80.51 miles per hour in the final second leading up to the collision

as it traveled off the roadway. So it struck the commercial sign and then the eastern side of the building. The black box shows that five seconds before hitting, before impact, the Toyota was 100% acceleration, meaning the gas pedal was pressed all the way down. You cannot press on the gas further. Fully depressed.

You cannot press down further. Like this is very pertinent. And at no point in the five seconds was the brake pedal ever pressed. This is the single most consequential data point in this case. I will say there is a change in the engine throttle before impact. That is argued that the car was airborne. So when it hit the curb, I'm not saying it like flew, but it was off the ground. And that will naturally impact the throttle engine readings.

But the break was never pressed. Within the final seconds, there is a small. right turn of the steering wheel, then a small left turn, and then a significant right turn of 142 degrees of the steering wheel. One second before the crash, the shift, the gear shift, is moved to neutral and then moved back to drive. Now, this is done manually. This does not slip on its own. There's nothing in the black box that would show that the car would initiate or engage some sort of protection mode or safety feature where it would go to neutral, then back to drive. So like something, something is happening with the gear shift physically, manually, in the car. The car was also found to not have any malfunctions

or mechanical errors that could have caused this. Now, I say this with a lot of cases. If anyone truly believes that in a case, a car malfunction is the cause of death or deaths, I think a wrongful death suit demanding tens of millions of dollars will be knocking on the car manufacturer's door. Like that is my opinion, obviously, but I think that is a strong thing. So the black box data shows there's no malfunctioning of the vehicle. I will note there have been conversations online about whether or not Toyota had acceleration issues in the past. So some people are like, oh yeah, Toyota had this thing where it would just freaking accelerate even when you didn't want it to, which makes it sound like Toyotas would just go 100 miles per hour out of the blue leaving the driver

and occupants trapped in a deadly rocket. That's, okay, this was a whole thing back in 2009. Formal investigations were held into Toyotas, what they called the Exceals, The Department of Transportation, so there were multiple calls coming in saying like, oh, the Toyota won't break. Like, I don't know what to do. I'm not stepping on. I'm stepping on the break, but it's accelerating. Like, help me, help me. Like people are freaking out. The Department of Transportation actually found that the acceleration from Toyotas, the unintentional accelerations from Toyotas, was mainly from floor mats getting stuck onto the gas pedal. And more often than not, drivers who inadvertently pressed the gas pedal thinking they were pressing the brakes and then panicking, but a lot of it was user error. Toyota did a massive recall because they thought the financial loss was better than fighting public opinion. There's a whole revisionist history

episode on it that I would probably recommend. NASA engineers also helped investigate and the fighting were NASA found no evidence that a malfunction in electronics caused large unintended accelerations. But this entire piece of Toyota history does not go without its own complications. Lots of people have their own opinions about what happens in the past. There were fatalities connected to what has been dubbed like the unintended acceleration crisis but there are also conspiracies. A lot of people believe that this was propaganda

by American car manufacturers to sow fear in foreign made cars. Others believe that Toyota paid the fine so they must have known something was messed up with the cars. I do think like there was like some allegation of like sticky gas pedals but it's just, um, I'm just giving you a summary of the mixed feelings that people have.

I will note that while diving into these conversations though, even on Reddit, Toyota has at least anecdotally ranked as a very well-trusted car brand. And the argument goes on and on about is this real history? Because it seems like most people, they were like, oh, no, Toyota did something bad. And then everyone in the comments is like, actually you're wrong. So this is actually what happened. And then the findings are here. But then some people are saying, well, there's this 200-page court document where

Toyota paid a fine and it's not a rabbit hole that I felt was pertinent enough to go down, but it's just there's no way that that's what happened in McKenzie's car, especially because, and the only reason I'm bringing this up is because her vehicle most likely had a brake override system, which is BOS. Toyota started installing these preemptively after 2009 because of this whole like unintended acceleration crisis. So essentially, if you feel like your car is accelerating unintendedly, let's say your gas pedal is stuck. If you hit the brakes, it'll neutral out the acceleration.

It'll engage a safety feature. So you'll just be idle because you're hitting both technically, right? Oh, okay, okay. But, I mean, that was never engaged because McKenzie never hit the break. But people are saying, like, if this was one of those unintended accelerations, right, she would have hit the brake. And there's a safety feature that would have been triggered and it would have stopped the car. It's pertinent to the case.

because there is a picture of a fuzzy Prada slipper found stuck under the acceleration pedal in the crash Toyota. A lot of people wonder is this another unintended acceleration issue? Again, no, because the brakes were never hit. Toyota's have that safety feature that's been put in. And the prosecutor says, we got back the lab results and in his professional opinion, the expert stated,

the slipper was stuck to the floorboard because of the impact. Like when the car was crushed, the floorboard had actually crumbled around the slipper so it had no contribution to the crash. It was simply a result of the crash. But let's say you don't trust the prosecutor or his opinions. Still, the BOS system. Prada slipper gets stuck.

If she hits the brakes, the BOS system would have been engaged and it would have stopped the car. So if it's not impaired driving, if it's not pots, if it's not a car malfunction, if it's not an acceleration pedal that's stuck, what is it?

And why did the car go to neutral, then go to drive, why was the steering wheel yanked to the right? The prosecutor says, it was chilling. If anybody was awake and alert inside that car, what a horrific last few seconds they endured. It is hard to comprehend that someone could just drive into a wall at that kind of speed. It is widely believed that Dom and Davion were trying to save their lives in the last few moments.

And perhaps there was, one of the boys had tried to put the car in neutral to slow it down. It gets put back into drive. maybe they're trying to take over the steering wheel. Another thing to note is the two boys were not found with their seatbelts on. And lots of people have reported that they always wear seatbelts. So they think they took it off to try and stop the car. And interestingly enough, McKenzie, who I've watched so many of her videos of her driving under the influence, she almost never wears a seatbelt.

But the day of the crash, she's wearing a seatbelt. She's the only one out of the three. Yeah. So with that being said, that is part one of the McKenzie Shrilla case. Stay tuned for the next few parts because we think that we've, this is just the surface. Let me know in the comments. What are your thoughts? And I'll see you in the next one.

Bye.