Former inmate make bold claims about what Mackenzie Shirilla is really like in prison
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, Netflix, True crime, Ohio
Thomas Bamford
Featured Image Credit: Law&Crime Trials
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, Netflix, True crime, Ohio
A former inmate who shared time behind bars with convicted killer Mackenzie Shirilla has made claims about what she's really like.
Many of the viewers have made their own minds up on the main character of Netflix's The Crash, but the general consensus is overwhelmingly negative, with people commenting on her as unremorseful, entitled and very much guilty.
Shirilla was sentenced to 15 years in prison back in 2023 following her conviction for the murder of her then-boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan.
She was found guilty of four counts of murder in what prosecutors called an 'intentional act', where she drove a car at 100 miles per hour directly into a wall. Black box data showed that Shirilla, only 17 at the time, was pressing the accelerator up until the car hit the wall. Shirilla has insisted that she blacked out and never meant to kill them.
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Russo, 20, and Flanagan, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Despite what you might think of the subject of The Crash, ex-Ohio prison inmate Kat Crowder has shared her experience of sharing time behind bars with Shirilla on TikTok, claiming that she's an entirely different person to how she's made out in the doc.
She said: “When I was in prison with her, it was at the beginning of her sentence, and the Mackenzie that came on to Netflix was not the same Mackenzie that I witnessed in prison.
“She thrived for fame, even when I was in prison with her, she thought she was going to be the representative of the prison.
Warning: The below video contains some strong language
“Let me tell you something, Mackenzie Shirilla did not walk around that prison yard with an ounce of remorse.
"Mackenzie did not walk around that prison yard thinking about those lost loved ones that she claimed to think about every single day. [She] walked around the prison thinking, how is she going to get in with the cool kids?”
Kat is now out of prison, living with her daughter in Nashville.
Shirilla was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years. She received two life in prison terms, one for murdering Russo and another for killing Flanagan.
Kat continued: “When I was in there with Mackenzie, all she cared about was doing her makeup, walking around in the yard with her one or two friends that were also very similar to her: young girls, social media influencer wannabes, thinking that it was a high school popularity contest.
"She was starting to hang out with the lifers who were more institutionalised and harder,” Kat added.
"Mackenzie had everything you can imagine in prison and more. All the makeup, all the limited item stuff that you had to buy, Mackenzie had it, her mum enabled her."
She later added in an interview with NewsNationNow that she wanted to be like 'Regina George' from Mean Girls.
“I do say that she wanted to be like Regina George. I mean, just the way that she did her makeup, the way that she, I mean, it was like she was going out to a club or something."
Kat also said that other inmates had suggested that Shirilla allegedly said she was high during the crash.
The case surrounding Shirilla is detailed in Netflix's new documentary, The Crash, which features interviews with those attached to the case which shocked the world in 2022.
Shirilla had been just 17 years old, driving home from a party with her boyfriend, Dom, and his friend, Davion, when she crashed her Toyota Camry at 100mph into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio.
Dom and Davion did not survive, and the crash left Shirilla with serious injuries, including a lacerated liver and kidney, and broken ribs.
Shirilla was charged with murder, which led her to facing Judge Nancy Russo, a judge who told the teen she was 'literal hell on wheels'. Russo accused Shirilla's actions of being five things: "Controlled, methodical, deliberate, intentional and purposeful.”
"This was not reckless driving. This was murder. The video clearly shows the purpose and intent of the defendant. She chose a course of death and destruction that day," the judge said.
Mackenzie Shirilla's lawyer has been approached for comment
July 17 2022: Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend Dominic Russo get into an argument. A friend overhears Shirilla tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”
July 31 2022: Shirilla is driving Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, from Russo’s home to a friend’s house. At around 5.30am, she crashes the car into a Plidco Building in Strongsville, Ohio, travelling at 100mph without braking. Police arrive on the scene 45 minutes later. Russo and Flanagan are pronounced dead and Shirilla is transported to MetroHealth Medical Cente.
August 2022: 200 people attend a vigil for Russo and Flanagan. Shirilla remains in critical condition. When a detective visits her in hospital, she is said to be speaking a ‘unique language’ similar to pig Latin.
October 2022: Shirilla attends a Halloween party wearing fancy dress which resembles a corpse, which Davion’s father considers in very poor taste. He says in Netflix’s The Crash: “Dressing up as corpses three months after she killed two people, it just sickened us to the very core.”
November 4 2022: Shirilla is arrested and faces 18 charges, including two counts of aggravated murder. She also faces charges for allegedly breaking into the Columbia Church of God in Columbia Station days before the crash, along with drug trafficking and possession charges.
August 7 2023: Shirilla’s trial begins. Her defence team argue she may have passed out at the time of the crash due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), but no medical records or expert testimony confirms the diagnosis.
August 14 2023: Shirilla is found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo calls her ‘hell on wheels’, and the court concludes she intetionally crashed the car in a premeditated act.
August 23 2023: Shirilla is sentenced to two concurrent 15 years to life sentences. Her legal team later lose an appeal and relief petition. She remains incarcerated in Ohio Refamatory for Women.
May 22 2025: Mackenzie’s parents insist that she’s innocent. Her father Steve tells WKYC: “Show me one piece of evidence - one - that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me, then she's right where she belongs and she's guilty of it. But there isn't any.” Her mother Natalie claims there are texts in which Shirilla says Russo was ‘trying to end her life’.
May 15 2026: Netflix’s The Crash premieres. In it, Shirilla insists she is ‘not a murderer’ and has no memory of the crash, continuing to blame POTS.
May 18 2026: Steve Shirilla is placed on administrative leave from his job as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland following allegations he had ‘demonstrated poor judgement’. Viewers of Netflix’s documentary objected to his attitude towards Shirilla’s marijuana use and his dismissal of claims she told a classmate to end their life.
September 2037: This is when Shirilla will be eligible for parole