Secret language Mackenzie Shirilla used with mum during police interview in alarming footage

The Ohio driver dubbed 'hell on wheels' after causing a deadly 100mph crash tried to covertly communicate with her mother while being quizzed by cops.

Mackenzie Shirilla's crimes have been thrust back into the spotlight in wake of the release of The Crash, a Netflix documentary which explores the horror collision that cost two young lads their lives in July 2022.

Viewers tuning into the documentary have heard how data from the vehicles 'black box' quickly made investigators realise the smash in Strongsville, Ohio, was not a tragic accident after all.

After miraculously surviving the crash, Shirilla later claimed that a chronic health condition might have been responsible for her colliding with a building at such a high speed.

Her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and his pal Davion Flanagan, 19, sadly did not survive the impact.

Shirilla suffered a string of serious injuries, including a lacerated liver and kidney, as well as broken ribs and was subsequently hospitalised - and police were obviously keen to talk to her.

As the sole survivor, officials in Ohio had hoped that the then-17-year-old could help them piece together the events of that fateful evening, but she claimed she had no memory of what had happened beforehand.

The Crash covers the case extensively - however, there were a few interesting details about the investigation which weren't included in the show, including an aspect which 'proved that [the crash] was intentional'.

As well as this, an audio recording of Shirilla's first ever police interview also didn't make it into the documentary, despite the interesting contents of it.

Following the fatal crash, a detective went to the hospital where Shirilla had been taken in the hopes of gaining some crucial information by chatting to her.

While there, he 'recorded a few minutes of audio' which picked up a conversation that transpired between Shirilla and her mother Natalie. This featured in an episode of A&E’s true crime series, Killer Cases.

Tim Troup, the lead prosecutor in the case, appeared in the episode titled 'Murder on Wheels' and explained what the recording consisted of.

In the clip, the detective can be heard explaining to Shirilla and her mum that police were investigating the incident as a 'an aggravated vehicular homicide, times two', before the driver then interjected.

Shirilla can be heard saying: "Can I say something to her real quick?"

But what came out of her mouth was largely incoherent, as Troup explained that the convicted killer used an 'unique language' to converse with her mum Natalie.

"It’s a gibberish or a distortion of the English language," the top cop said. "It’s kind of like Pig Latin."

For those who don't know, this is something of a secret code that people can use to disguise their conversations from others. To speak in Pig Latin, you move the first consonant of a word to the end of it and add '-ay'.

According to Troup, authorities later worked out exactly what Shirilla had been saying to her mother.

He alleged that Shirilla said: "Can we tell the police I had a seizure? Can we tell the police something like that?"

Troup went on to say that the detective tasked with speaking to Shirilla that day had also been left taken aback by her initial response to the weighty situation at hand, as she asked him: "Can’t you just take my driver’s license away for 10 years?"

Troup said: "She’s feeling some kind of guilt here. So, that instantly starts making us think that this is not an accident."

Mackenzie Shirilla timeline

17 July 2022 - Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend Dominic Russo get into an argument. A friend allegedly overhears Shirilla tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”

31 July 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.”

4 November 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 possession charges.

7 August 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.

14 August 2023 - Shirilla is found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo calls her ‘hell on wheels’, and the court concludes she intentionally crashed the car in a premeditated act.

23 August 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 the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

22 May 2025 - Shirilla’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’.

15 May 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.

18 May 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