Evil ‘hell on wheels’ teen who murdered boyfriend and friend by slamming car into wall offers outrageous new excuse after becoming prolific prison lesbian
An Ohio woman convicted of murdering her boyfriend and friend by crashing into a wall on purpose offered an outrageous excuse for their deaths in a self-pitying behind-bars interview.
Mackenzie Shirilla, 21, is serving a sentence of 15-years-to-life in prison for the July 2022 murders of her boyfriend Dominic Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan.
In her years locked up at Ohio Reformatory for Women near Columbus, Ohio, Shirilla has gained a notorious reputation for her lesbian relationships with other inmates, the Daily Mail previously revealed.
In her first on-camera interview from prison, Shirilla again tried to blame a blood pressure issue for having ‘blacked out’ when she crashed into a wall at over 100mph, without ever touching the brakes or skidding across the road.
Shirilla said in new Netflix documentary The Crash that she has suffered with POTS – postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome – for years. She claimed that may have made her lose consciousness before the crash – even though her Toyota Camry managed to turn corners while the then-17-year-old was seemingly out cold.
In previous court filings, she pointed out that her POTS condition might have caused medical issue during the accident.
‘With POTS you just blackout, it can happen very fast,’ said Shirilla, who has maintained that she has zero memory of the moments before the fatal smash.
‘If I move a certain way, it just comes out of nowhere, I can just be sitting and it could hit me.’
Prosecutors dismissed the claims as farcical, pointing to evidence from her car that showed she pressed the gas pedal to 100% for over 10 seconds before the crash, and never attempted to brake.
The claim was also undercut by footage of the smash, which showed Shirilla cornering at at high speed, which prosecutors say would be impossible if she was suffering a medical emergency.
Mackenzie Shirilla with late boyfriend Dominic Russo, who she murdered by slamming a car into her wall in July 2022. She maintains her innocence and is now said to be a lesbian bully behind bars
Davion Flanagan (pictured) was also murdered by Shirilla in the horror trash
Shirilla’s attorneys attempted to raise the possibility of POTS playing a role in the crash during her trial in August 2023, but the judge in her case said there was no evidence to support it as she dubbed her ‘hell on wheels’ in court.
Lead prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in the Netflix documentary that considered all possibilities in the case, but was never convinced that Shirilla’s crash was explained by a sudden medical episode.
He noted that while Shirilla’s mother testified in court that her daughter had suffered from POTS, the defense never produced any evidence beyond that.
‘We were never provided with an opinion from a medical person stating that Mackenzie had suffered some kind of POTS incident that caused this,’ he said.
‘And I think that is because that is not what happened.’
Russo’s sister Christine added that Shirilla’s explanation would be ‘physically impossible’, arguing that she would not have been able to accelerate into a wall without being conscious.
‘If she passed out, then her foot would have eased off the gas, it wouldn’t have stuck down like that,’ she said.
‘It makes no sense.’
Shirilla’s parents Natalie and Steve (pictured) have maintained that their daughter was the victim of a miscarriage of justice, and continue to argue that the crash was a tragic accident possibly caused by POTS
The obliterated ruins of the Toyota Camry Mackenzie Shirilla drove into a wall at 100mph. She maintains she suffered a medical emergency – but was sentenced for murder
Mackenzie Shirilla is pictured in a selfie taken from the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where she is serving 15 years to life
Shirilla will not be up for parole until 2037, but her parents have passionately defended her as innocent ever since the crash that killed two and left her severely injured.
Speaking with the Daily Mail earlier this year, her parents Natalie and Steve insisted that their daughter is a ‘good kid’ and argued she never should have been charged with murder.
Steve said her portrayal in the public eye ‘as a monster just isn’t true’, and said that he believes she was ‘screwed over’ by her attorneys and the justice system.
‘She was young, and the case should have only been in juvenile court and she should only have been charged with vehicular homicide,’ he said.
At her sentencing they shouted ‘Love you hun, know you’re innocent’ as she was led away to begin her sentencing.
They maintained the deadly crash had been the result of a medical incident suffered by Shirilla and that she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Speaking outside their home in Cleveland, Steve and Natalie told the Daily Mail that their daughter’s conviction was ‘corrupt.’
‘The whole thing was a joke,’ Steve added, suggesting without evidence that his daughter had fallen victim to a grave series of legal errors.
Shirilla pictured with two other inmates at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. She is said to have developed a taste for other ‘lifers’ like her
Shirilla gives a self-pitying sob as she’s convicted of murder in 2023
The Daily Mail previously revealed that inmates locked up with Shirilla know her as a notorious lesbian behind bars who had a ‘mean girl’ energy.
A former inmate who gave her name as Kat said Shirilla, now 21, was enjoying such torrid romances with other women that she would regularly walk around with ‘hickeys on her neck.’
‘She showed absolutely no remorse,’ she said. ‘Mackenzie acted like it was glorified high school… she walked around like she was famous.’
‘The girlfriend thing was well known,’ Kat continued. ‘And in prison it’s very common especially for people in her life sentence situation, and especially with the younger girls.’
She is said to have a quickly developed a taste for other ‘lifers’ – women who have committed the most serious crimes and who face spending the rest of their lives incarcerated.
‘People would talk about her girlfriends, and you’d hear about her falling out with them,’ Kat added.
Shirilla was also spoiled with stylish clothes and shoes behind bars thanks to cash added to her account by her parents – and is said to have mocked other prisoners less fortunate than her.
