What to know about Mackenzie Shirilla, the Ohio teen who killed her boyfriend and his friend in 100 mph crash
NBC News
Overall Assessment
The article presents a detailed, well-sourced account of a high-profile criminal case, balancing perspectives from both the convicted and victims’ families. It avoids overt editorializing but uses emotionally charged language in the headline and lead. Coverage of legal, emotional, and technical aspects is thorough and transparently attributed.
"She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was death."
Loaded Language
Headline & Lead 65/100
The headline and lead draw attention using dramatic labels and high-impact descriptors, which may compromise neutrality by pre-judging intent.
✕ Sensationalism: The headline uses the phrase 'Hell on Wheels', a label previously used in media and by the judge, which carries strong emotional and sensational connotations. It frames the subject as inherently dangerous before presenting facts.
"Mackenzie Shirilla was dubbed “Hell on Wheels” for a devastating 2022 Ohio crash in which she drove into a brick building at 100 mph, killing her boyfriend and his friend."
✕ Framing by Emphasis: The headline emphasizes the 100 mph speed and the fatal outcome, which may overstate the proven facts — the data recorder confirmed speed at impact, but not sustained speed during travel. This framing by emphasis heightens drama.
"the Ohio teen who killed her boyfriend and his friend in 100 mph crash"
Language & Tone 78/100
While the article largely reports facts objectively, some judicial quotes and scene descriptions carry strong emotional weight, slightly undermining tonal neutrality.
✕ Loaded Language: The article quotes the judge calling Shirilla 'literal hell on wheels' and saying she 'had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was death.' These are strong, emotionally loaded statements that are reported without counterbalancing neutral analysis.
"She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was death."
✕ Appeal to Emotion: Describing the car as 'utterly destroyed' and showing photos of the wreckage appeals to emotion, though it is factually accurate. The emphasis on visual horror may amplify emotional response.
"Photos from the scene depict the utterly destroyed car, its entire front ripped into pieces, the front windshield shattered and the side and the roof mangled."
✓ Balanced Reporting: The article generally maintains neutral tone in its narrative sections, using factual language and attributing opinions to sources rather than asserting them.
Balance 94/100
Multiple stakeholders are represented with direct quotes and clear sourcing, ensuring a fair and transparent presentation of conflicting viewpoints.
✓ Balanced Reporting: The article includes direct quotes from both the Shirilla family disputing the conviction and the victims’ families expressing ongoing pain, offering balanced emotional perspectives.
"We believe she’s been falsely accused of something. We believe there’s no evidence. There’s no evidence that you can show me that says prior calculation, intent, there’s nothing,” Steve Shirilla told NBC News on Thursday."
✓ Balanced Reporting: Victims’ family members are quoted expressing grief and frustration with the appeals process, giving voice to their trauma and perspective.
"It hasn’t gotten any better. It’s gotten worse. As time goes, we’re missing him more as different stages of grief are hitting,” she told NBC News."
✓ Proper Attribution: All claims are properly attributed to specific sources — prosecutors, court filings, family members, or official statements — avoiding vague attribution.
"According to a prosecutor’s filing."
✓ Balanced Reporting: The article includes the defense’s argument that mutual fighting occurred and intent couldn’t be proven, fairly representing the legal counter-narrative.
"The defense claimed that they mutually fought each other and that it couldn’t be determined whether Shirilla crashed intentionally."
Completeness 88/100
The article delivers extensive context on the legal, emotional, and technical dimensions of the case, supporting reader understanding of a complex event.
✓ Comprehensive Sourcing: The article provides a detailed timeline of the crash, trial, sentencing, and appeals, including technical data from the event recorder, family statements, and legal outcomes. This gives readers substantial context on the case’s progression.
"An investigation of the car’s event data recorder found that Shirilla’s right foot was pressed to the accelerator’s full extent and that the brakes were never applied before impact, the Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said."
✓ Comprehensive Sourcing: The article includes background on the toxic relationship, prior threats, and the judge’s interpretation of intent, helping explain the prosecution’s theory. This adds necessary psychological and relational context.
"Prosecutors said Shirilla had made increasingly violent and threatening comments leading up to the crash."
✓ Comprehensive Sourcing: The article notes the ongoing appeals and legal rejections, including the Supreme Court of Ohio declining review, which is crucial for understanding the current status.
"In May 2025, the Supreme Court of Ohio declined to review the appeal."
Victims and their families are portrayed as deserving of empathy, inclusion, and closure
[appeal_to_emotion] The article gives extensive space to victims’ family members’ grief and trauma, emphasizing their ongoing pain and moral standing.
"She ruined everybody’s existence on Earth, not just Dom’s — everyone in our families, everyone in Davion’s family, my kids."
Crime is framed as a deliberate, hostile act driven by personal malice
[loaded_language] The judge's statement describing the crash as a calculated mission of death strongly frames the act as intentional and adversarial rather than accidental.
"She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The mission was death."
The court's judgment is portrayed as authoritative and justified
[proper_attribution] The article quotes the judge’s definitive ruling without challenge, reinforcing the legitimacy of the verdict and sentencing.
"This was not reckless driving. This was murder,” Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo said at the verdict reading, as Shirilla broke down in tears."
Domestic violence is framed as a harmful, fatal force within intimate relationships
[framing_by_emphasis] The article emphasizes the 'toxic relationship' narrative and prior threats, linking the crash to patterns of domestic conflict.
"Prosecutors said Shirilla had made increasingly violent and threatening comments leading up to the crash."
Media attention, especially via documentary, is framed as retraumatizing and disruptive to healing
[framing_by_emphasis] The article highlights how the Netflix documentary and repeated appeals reopen emotional wounds, suggesting media amplifies crisis.
"Since the sentencing, it’s appeal after appeal after appeal,” she said Thursday. “There’s no resting; there’s no finding peace. It’s just constant, like them slapping it again in our face every six months."
The article presents a detailed, well-sourced account of a high-profile criminal case, balancing perspectives from both the convicted and victims’ families. It avoids overt editorializing but uses emotionally charged language in the headline and lead. Coverage of legal, emotional, and technical aspects is thorough and transparently attributed.
Mackenzie Shirilla was convicted of murder in 2023 for a 2022 crash that killed her boyfriend and his friend, with prosecutors arguing intentional action based on vehicle data. Her family maintains her innocence, and appeals have been denied. A new Netflix documentary examines the case and its aftermath.
NBC News — Other - Crime
Based on the last 60 days of articles
NBC News
