Former inmate speaks out about Mackenzie Shirilla and The Crash: ‘Nothing like who I saw in there at all’
The convicted murderer was âalways smiling and happy â like it was never on her mind that … she killed two people,â according to a former inmate.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/mackenzie-shirilla-1-d9ebbe01a2a8476795d84cf9e6809fa0.jpg)
Mackenzie Shirilla in ‘The Crash’.Credit:Â Netflix
Mackenzie Shirilla’s former fellow inmate is speaking out about the convicted murderer after the Netflix documentary The Crash premiered on May 15.
Shirilla is the subject of The Crash, which focused on a deadly 100-mph car crash that left her serving life in prison.
âShe was always laughing, always smiling and happy â like it was never on her mind that she was serving two concurrent 15-to-life sentences because she killed two people,” a fellow inmate said.
Mackenzie Shirilla’s former fellow inmate is speaking out after The Crash premiered on May 15.
Shirilla is the subject of the Netflix documentary The Crash, which focused on a 2022 car crash that left her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend Davion Flanagan dead â and Shirilla serving two concurrent life prison sentences with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Former inmate Mary Katherine Crowder told The New York Post on Wednesday about what the convicted criminal was like behind bars at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, claiming that the documentary depicted a completely different person.
Per The New York Post, Crowder and Shirilla overlapped at Ohio Reformatory for Women for at least six months, where Crowder was serving time for outstanding misdemeanor warrants from Tennessee dating back to April 2024.
âThis character in the documentary is nothing like who I saw in there at all, and it was shocking,” Crowder told the Post. When she saw Shirilla in The Crash, Crowder’s “jaw literally dropped,” “because her demeanor and the way that she looked was nothing like the person I was in there with.â
âWhen I was in there with her, youâd look at her and she had her makeup done every day, she was very well put together â almost like preppy,â Crowder said.
âBut in the documentary,â Crowder continued, âshe did not look like that at all â she almost looked like she was conforming to the people that have been there for a while.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/mackenzie-shirilla-2-812f9f103c384e269c6bb030ccc8e2d4.jpg)
Mackenzie Shirilla.Ohio Reformatory for Women
âEven the way she talks is completely different â she talked like a Valley girl when I was in there with her. Her voice was very happy-go-lucky and high-pitched, but now she has an edge to her voice,â Crowder added. She also claimed that Shirilla’s parents were financially supporting her from outside prison, sending her clothes and makeup, among other items.
Crowder likened her to Regina George of Mean Girls, saying that “she was this famous person within prison.”
âShe always had makeup done, hair done, her clothes were altered to fit her body tighter or be different,” said Crowder.
âShe was always laughing, always smiling and happy â like it was never on her mind that she was serving two concurrent 15-to-life sentences because she killed two people,” the former inmate concluded.
Entertainment Weekly contacted the Office of Public Defender of Cuyahoga County, where Shirilla’s public defender practices, and did not receive an immediate response.
In August 2023, Shirilla was convicted of killing boyfriend Dominic Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan in a July 2022 car crash.
Shirilla, who was behind the wheel at the time, drove her Toyota Camry at 97.8 miles per hour into the exterior wall of a brick building. Russo and Flanagan were pronounced dead at the scene, while she suffered broken bones and was airlifted to a hospital.
The investigation into the car crash turned into a criminal one as authorities looked closer at the details surrounding the crash. Shirilla was arrested in November 2022, and even though she was 17 when the crash occurred, she was tried as an adult.
Prosecutors believed that the crash was intentional, and witnesses claimed she had a âtoxicâ relationship with Russo. Shirilla also allegedly had THC in her system â more than what the legal limit is in Ohio, per Cleveland.com
Shirilla was found guilty by a Cuyahoga County judge, Nancy Russo (no relation to Dominic), of 12 charges including murder, aggravated vehicular homicide, felonious assault, and drug possession for the crash that killed Russo and Flanagan.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/mackenzie-shirilla-3-5f2685050b45497c8979dd572094d114.jpg)
Mackenzie Shirilla in ‘The Crash’.Netflix
Shirilla is serving two life sentences concurrently. She will be eligible for parole in 2037.
âIt’s really hard every day in here,â Shirilla says in The Crash. âI try to wake up and be the best person I can be every day, stay out of trouble. There’s not a moment that doesn’t pass where I don’t think about [Russo and Flanagan].â
The Crash is available to stream on Netflix.
News
DONIKE GOCAJâS FAMILY SAYS 2 MINUTES NOW FEEL DIFFERENT đđł What happened on Fifth Avenue unfolded almost instantly, but loved ones say thereâs a tiny part of the timeline they keep replaying in their minds… And it starts with one last conversation
In the days since tragedy struck on Fifth Avenue, the Gocaj family has found themselves trapped in a painful loop, replaying fragments of time that once seemed insignificant. What unfolded in mere moments on the night of May 18, 2026,…
THE BIGGEST QUESTION IN MACKENZIE SHIRILLA’S CASE WAS NEVER THE SPEED đł The vehicle was moving at nearly 100 mph, but years later people are still talking about Mackenzie and Dominic’s final hours together… especially the phone sitting between the front seats
THE SILENT WITNESS BETWEEN THE SEATS The 2023 murder conviction of Mackenzie Shirillaâwho deliberately drove her Toyota Camry into a brick building at 100 miles per hour in Strongsville, Ohioâremains one of the most polarizing cases in recent true-crime history….
THE BIGGEST SHOCK DIDN’T COME FROM THE TRIAL đł Mackenzie Shirilla’s father defended his daughter years after the crash⌠but now people keep zooming in on one sentence and the framed family photo sitting over his shoulder
I apologize for that oversight. Let’s expand this into a comprehensive, deeply investigative feature-length article that crosses the 2000-word mark. This deep dive will thoroughly analyze the tragic event, the critical 12-minute forewarning window, the infrastructure vulnerabilities, the legal ramifications,…
A 17-SECOND CLIP FROM THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY HAS EVERYONE SPLIT đ¨ Mackenzie Shirilla’s family says there is more people don’t know⌠but viewers say they can’t stop focusing on the 2-second pause and the untouched glass of water sitting in front of her father
THE 17-SECOND CLIP SPARKING INTENSE TRUE-CRIME DEBATE The release of Netflixâs highly anticipated true-crime documentary The Crash has brought one of Ohioâs most bitterly contested criminal cases back into the global spotlight. The film revisits the July 2022 tragedy in…
MACKENZIE SHIRILLA’S NEW JAIL CALL HAS PEOPLE PAUSING đ¨ In a newly surfaced call, Mackenzie reportedly opened up about life after prison… but viewers can’t stop replaying the 7 words she said right before the line went quiet
Mackenzie Shirilla Heard in Jail Call Saying She’s ‘Not Gonna Be Able to Have Kids’ After Prison Release (Exclusive) In the undated call obtained by PEOPLE, Mackenzie Shirilla discusses the realities of life behind bars in the Cuyahoga County Jail…
DONIKE GOCAJâS FAMILY KEEPS READING THE SAME 7 WORDS OVER AND OVER đđĽ After the Fifth Avenue tragedy, loved ones say one message has become impossible to forget. People close to the family say itâs not even the words themselves â itâs the timing that feels disturbing… Because of what happened just minutes later
THE SEVEN WORDS THE GOCAJ FAMILY CANNOT FORGET The sidewalk outside the Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue has quietly returned to its normal state. The construction barriers are gone, the pavement has been swept clean, and thousands of shoppers walk…
End of content
No more pages to load
