Mackenzie Shirilla ‘made boast about chilling nickname she was given in prison’
A former prison inmate claimed that Mackenzie Shirilla had boasted about the nickname she was given after being incarcerated for the murders of her boyfriend and his friend.
Shirilla was described by a judge as 'literal hell on wheels' after she crashed her car into a wall at 100mph in a collision that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend Davion Flanagan, 19 on 31 July, 2022.
17 at the time of the crash, Shirilla had been behind the wheel which left her in a critical condition before she recovered.
However, on 4 November, 2022 she was arrested and faced 18 charges including two counts of aggravated murder which Shirilla denied, claiming she suffered from a medical condition that could have caused her to black out behind the wheel.
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Found guilty the following year and sentenced to two concurrent 15 years to life sentences, Shirilla's former inmate at Ohio Reformatory for Women has since claimed the convicted murderer enjoyed the nickname she was given.
Former inmate Shyann Topping, 27, told the US Sun that for a couple of weeks before she was released she had been a girlfriend of Shirilla, now 21, and had been informed of the nickname other inmates had given her.
She said: "We started talking and she told me her nickname was ‘Shirilla the killa,’ like, that’s what her bunkmates called her."
Topping said that in the two weeks they were together Shirilla had talked about her plans for the future if and when she gets out of prison, though as it stands she's not eligible for parole until September 2037.
The former inmate said Shirilla planned to 'live it' if she was released, saying: "Like, she’s gonna go back to concerts. She’s gonna travel. She’s gonna be an influencer and write a book when she gets out about everything that happened.
"She said it might take some time, but she’s gonna get out and live it again."
Topping initially believed Shirilla's claims that she was innocent and not actually 'Shirilla the killa' as her nickname went, but has now come to believe that the 21-year-old is likely guilty of the crimes she was convicted of.
"Now I’m thinking, okay, she was just trying to grab a piece of fame. I don’t think she would do any of that for the families if she got out," she said.
"I think she would throw up a big middle finger to them like, I got away with it."
Another former inmate, Kat Crowder, has claimed that Shirilla went on 'sugar daddy' websites to make money in prison.
Her case was the subject of Netflix documentary The Crash, while there are other documentaries on her including Hulu's Mean Girl Murders.
A timeline of events in the Mackenzie Shirilla case:
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 Center.
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 confirm 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.
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla, Netflix, Crime, US News
Joe Harker